Chapter 15: Enter the Guardians
The Milano hurtled through hyperspace, bound for nowhere in particular. Inside the cockpit, Peter Quill leaned back in his seat, tapping his foot to "Steal Away" by Robbie Dupree. He owned a Zune, a digital media player from Earth that had 300 songs on it. Quill had heard every one of the songs. He loved Earth music, even if the other members of his crew had grown sick and tired of the songs, because it was from his home planet.
He was so absorbed in the song, he didn't notice his second-in-command, Gamora, approach. The green-skinned alien woman was the last member of her species, and had been specially trained to be an assassin. It still showed in the way she carried herself; elegantly, gracefully, every step methodically measured and calculated. Sometimes it freaked him out if he was honest.
"Quill," she said. He turned around in his seat in the pilot's chair and raised his eyebrows. "Rocket wants to talk with you. In the engine room."
Quill stretched and got up, cracking the joints in his neck. "What does that furball want now?" he asked.
"I don't understand the terms he's using, but he says it's important." Gamora turned on her heel and followed Peter to the lift, which lowered them down into the engine room, a loud room with circuitry and open wires that smelled like oil and wet dog.
Short, furry, and bad-tempered, Rocket Raccoon came from a planet called Half-World. A victim of illegal genetic and cybernetic enhancements, Rocket was the only creature of his kind in the universe. He was constantly in search of adventure and, more importantly, fast cash. He was a master tactician as well as a dangerous bounty hunter, and the Guardian's appointed mechanic/tech raccoon.
Rocket had just attempted to communicate with the ship's computer by kicking a control panel on the engine room's wall. The control panel had responded with a mystifying whistle that left Rocket slightly irked.
"Groot, toss me a wrench," Rocket said.
The tree-like Groot hailed from a world designated only as "X," which was populated by sentient giants. Groot was Rocket's best friend and hired muscle, but his species was naive and child-like. He huddled in the corner with his knees up to his chest, rocking back and forth as he watched Rocket work.
Groot possessed the ability to manipulate and grown his giant bark-covered form at will, which came in extremely handy in certain situations. Rather than having to shift his bulky form to get up and get it, Groot simply extended a hand and his wooden fingers stretched like fresh vines towards the wrench. He picked up an old printer lying on the floor next to it and tossed it to Rocket.
The printer crashed next to Rocket, who looked at Groot with a look of absolute disdain on his face. "I said my wrench."
"I am Groot," Groot said apologetically, grabbing the wrench instead and passing it to Rocket.
"Why would I say printer—thanks," Rocket grumbled, taking the wrench from Groot's fingers. Groot went back to watching Rocket work, and Rocket went back to cursing under his breath at the ship's computer.
"What's the issue, Rock?" Quill asked, walking towards Rocket.
"Oh, nothing much, Quill," Rocket said. "Just that the power coupling on the negative axis is polarized. Causing the ship's hyperdrive to spring a leak and fill the combustion chamber with fuel. Which could explode in a fiery inferno and kill us all. And on top of that, I haven't had a nice stiff drink in three cycles. But other than that, everything's just peachy, Quill. Why do you ask?"
"We have to replace the negative power coupling?" Quill asked. "How long is that going to take?"
"Not that long," Rocket said. "Only problem is, the ship has to be stationary when I do it. Can't risk a rogue spark igniting the fuel puddle in the chamber. It'll take at least ten minutes for the chamber to drain before I can have a look at those power couplings."
"Is there a nearby system we can stop at?" Gamora asked. "We could all do with a stretch of the legs."
"I am Groot," Groot added.
"I told you to go before we left!" said Rocket.
Quill took the lift back up to the main hold and walked into the cockpit. He activated a mapscreen on his control panel, and Gamora leaned closer to him to study the map. Quill asked, "Got any ideas?"
"No. Where are we?"
"The Nine Realms."
"The Nine Realms," Gamora repeated thoughtfully. "There's not much there."
"No," Quill said, then noticed something on the map. "Well, wait. This is interesting. Asgard."
"Asgard system?"
Quill grinned, then said, "Asgard's not a system, it's a planet. Home to a bunch of intergalactic peacekeepers." He glanced at Gamora and added, "Like the Jedi from Star Wars, but no laser swords."
Gamora smirked. "I enjoyed watching Star Wars. Spock was my favorite."
"That's—" Quill facepalmed mentally before returning his attention to the mapscreen instead of bothering to correct Gamora's pop-culture blunder. He'd learned by now it was best to let his crewmates believe whatever they wanted about Earth's pop culture; he would give himself a headache trying to explain it to them. "It's pretty close. I'm gonna pull us out of hyperspace. You'd better go wake up Drax and Mantis."
Gamora turned and headed off towards the bunks as Quill flicked on the intership comm system. "Rocket, we're putting in to Asgard for repairs," he said. "You and Groot come on up."
"Asgard?" Rocket asked. "I think they've still got a couple warrants out on me. Why in the world would you put in there?"
"It was the closest system," Quill said.
"All right, Quill, we're comin' up." The transmission ended.
The streaks of starlight narrowed and faded as the ship came out of hyperspace. Quill was thrown forward in his seat slightly as the view outside the cockpit transformed into a starfield.
The rest of Quill's crew filed into the cockpit. Quill took a look around at them all. The heavily-tattooed Drax. The green-skinned Gamora. The tree-like Groot. The fur-covered Rocket Raccoon. The empathic insectoid Mantis. They didn't look like much. But they were his crew. They were his family. He would stick by them till the end.
The Milano began to shudder, violently tossing back and forth. "What the—?" Quill said. Spread out in front of them was a field of fragments and shards of rock, causing some bad turbulence.
"Quill?" Gamora asked. "When was the last time you visited Asgard?"
Quill looked out the window. Asgard looked a lot different than he remembered it. The small world had sprouted a volcano in its center, which oozed molten lava from its tip. The ocean had been turned to lava. The trees were dead or burnt. The streets were broken and jagged. The city was in ruins. It looked as though Asgard had been struck by a meteorite. There was no sign of life anywhere. Any glimmer of green or color had vanished, replaced by fiery orange and red.
"It's usually bigger," Quill said. "And shinier."
"Yeah," said Rocket. "I was expectin' a city made out of gold or something. This is just . . . depressing."
Mantis's antenna tips lit up. The empathic alien looked exactly like a normal human except for two flexible antenna on her forehead. She had the ability to sense and experience a person's emotions and feelings using her antenna.
Mantis' face immediately contorted into an expression of pain. "I can't feel anything," she said. "Except . . . pain. Anger. Hatred. Suffering."
"I smell a rat," Quill muttered.
"I smell a rat as well," said Drax. "It's probably Rocket."
Rocket glared at him. "It's a metaphor, you nut brain."
"I do not have nuts for brains!" Drax protested.
Quill steered the Milano to a small clearing on the edge of the fiery sea, in the middle of some stone columns arranged in a circle. He turned to face his crew. "Rocket, get the ship fixed as fast as you can. The rest of you, don't go far. Trouble's afoot. Stay frosty."
"You ask the impossible, Quill," Drax said as the group filed down the Milano's landing ramp. "On a world of fire, the task of staying frosty cannot be done."
"I meant stay on the alert, Drax," Quill said, keeping a hand on his high-tech blasters in their holsters. "Something happened here. Something bad."
As the rest of the Rocket scampered up on top of the Milano with a welder and a pair of goggles. "Quill, if you don't make it back alive, that makes me 'Captain', right?" When Rocket didn't get a response, he added, "Just clarifying!"
The rest of the Guardians disappeared without responding. "It was a valid question," Rocket muttered as he flipped on the welder and got to work. Sparks flew, and when Rocket turned off the welder he saw that the damage was a bit worse than he had expected. "Oh, give me a break," he grumbled.
His words were overheard by Drax, who was circling base of the Milano and doing his best to stay frosty as Quill had said. Drax, ever eager to help, turned and looked at the Milano. If Rocket wanted a break, then he, Drax the Destroyer, would get it for him.
He glanced over the underside of the ship. One break was probably as good as another. Grabbing hold of a pair of metal cylinders, he squeezed his fists, easily crushing the metal. Then Drax yanked with all his might and pulled them out, holding them in the air triumphantly. "Yes!" he cried. "I have broken the lifters for you, Rocket!"
"What?!" Rocket shouted. Switching off the welder, he jumped off the ship in front of Drax, who produced him the broken lifters with a beaming grin. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no!" Rocket yelled. "Why did you take this apart now? I'm trying to get us out of here, and you pull both of these—" Words failing him, he gestured at the lifters.
"You said to give you a break," Drax said, puzzled.
"I didn't mean for you to take apart the lifters, you idiot!" Rocket shouted. "Put them back together again right now."
"I don't know how."
Rocket heaved a sigh, exasperated as he surveyed the new damage. "Yeesh. I guess there's a reason they call you Drax the Destroyer, huh?"
"No. The reason for that is because I have been on a rampage across the galaxy for years after losing my family."
Rocket groaned and climbed up to finish welding so he wouldn't have to listen to Drax's origin story yet again.
Gamora walked down to the edge of the lava ocean. It was like a great lake of fire, which stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see. Truly a dismal world. She hadn't met the Asgardians yet, but she couldn't imagine how they survived on a world like this.
A noise caught her attention from the beach. Turning, she drew her sword in the blink of an eye and took a fighting stance, whipping the weapon around to face whoever it was that was trying to sneak up on her.
The blade stopped an inch from the nose of some kind of strange being. Its skin was green, like hers, but a darker shade. Some kind of hard brown shell was on its back, and a blue cloth bound around its eyes. Like her, this creature also carried a sword, which it was using to crawl up the beach on its hands and knees towards her. The creature's skin was covered in ash, and she could see it had shed some kind of ornate metal armor on its journey towards her.
The creature looked up, locked eyes with her, and groaned in perfect English, "Please . . . help me . . ." Exhausted from the effort, it collapsed.
Gamora quickly sheathed her sword and bent down to check the creature's vitals. It was alive, but barely. She radioed Quill. "Quill, I've got a situation here."
Blaster drawn, Quill hid behind a tall, fire-scorched rock. A few yards away, on the other side of the rock, was a group of dark, magma-like creatures. They had surrounded an Asgardian soldier, and one of them held the hapless soldier on his knees while another slashed his throat with a blade. The soldier gave a gurgling cry and collapsed with his face in the dirt.
The demon creatures chuckled. "Sssspread out," one of them hissed. "Keep sssearching. Lord Ssssurtur gave us his orderssss. Kill any ssssurvivorssss." Cackling evilly, the group continued onwards.
Quill turned to Mantis, who was crouched with a hand over her mouth in shock at what she had just witnessed. "Hey, Mantis, it's okay," he whispered. "They're gone."
"Such evil creatures . . ." she said. "I couldn't feel them. They had no emotions. No soul." She grabbed his arm for support.
"We can't worry about that now," Quill said.
At least there wasn't any question about what had happened to Asgard. Quill had never thought that Asgard would be conquered, but apparently nobody was invincible. "We've got to get out of here," he continued. "Let's get back to the ship."
He took a step forward, and the ground under his foot collapsed. The hard dirt had turned brittle from the heat, and couldn't support his weight. He slipped and fell, and Mantis fell with him. They both tumbled into a ravine and fell for about twenty feet, landing hard on the baked sand underneath them.
Quill groaned in pain and rolled over. The fall was probably going to leave some bruises in the morning. "Mantis, you okay?"
"Yes," she said. "I'm fine." They got up and glanced upwards at the edge of the ravine above them. Quill was getting ready to activate his boot jets and fly back up when a cry from Mantis got his attention.
"Peter!" The empath had found three figures lying on the ground nearby. Two of them were human—Asgardians, by the look of them. One male and one female. The third was one that Quill didn't recognize. It looked like some kind of turtle-human mutant.
"Are they dead?" he asked.
Mantis' antennae lit up. "No, just unconscious. And—" She gritted her teeth "—in pain."
"Let's see if we can get them back to the ship," Quill said, picking up the turtle creature.
Suddenly, his wrist-com buzzed. It was Gamora. "Quill, I've got a situation here."
Leo wondered, Am I dead?
His whole body felt empty, drained of life, yet there was a lightness about him. Unable to move or feel, and barely able to think, he was waiting for the inevitable when he heard a voice.
"He wakes . . . he wakes."
Leo recognized the voice. He hadn't heard it since he'd been in the dojo meditating, when the weird spirit had spoken to him from the tree. Slowly, Leo raised his head. A familiar face hovered over his, the face of an Asian woman with two blue glowing antennae.
As Leo's vision cleared, he became aware of other beings in the room. He sat up, slightly startled, unsure of how to respond. "W-who are you?" he asked. "Where am I?"
"We're the Guardians of the friggin' Galaxy, pal," said one of them, a short raccoon creature. "You're on our ship. We picked you guys up on Asgard."
Asgard . . . memories came flooding back. The battle. The teleportation. The fall of Asgard. Leo remembered falling into the river, and that was all. How had he ended up here?"
As if he could read Leo's thoughts, one of them, a bearded human male, said, "You guys were in sad shape. Gamora here found you on the beach." He pointed at a green-skinned lady with a cold gaze.
Behind Leo, Donatello and Thor also groaned and stirred. "L-Leo?" Donnie groaned. "Wha—happened—" He fell back against the pillow.
"We're safe now, Donnie," Leo told him. "I think." He turned back to face the group. "I don't know your names."
"My name is Peter Quill," the man said. "But you probably know me as the legendary intergalactic adventurer . . . Star-Lord!" He paused for effect.
"Who?" Leo asked.
Quill's face dropped. "You've never heard of Star-Lord?"
"Should I have?" asked Thor.
"Come on, man," Quill said. "I'm a legend!"
"What you are is brash, stubborn, and bold," said the green woman.
"This is Gamora," Quill said, pointing at the green-skinned woman. "She's a master swordsman and has a reputation of being the most dangerous woman in the galaxy." He then gestured at the tattoo-covered man. "That's Drax. He's battle-hardened and highly dangerous. Also, try to avoid figures of speech, cause he'll miss them."
"The only ones I miss are my wife and daughter," Drax said. "They were brutally murdered at the hands of Ronan the Accuser. I swore an oath that I would avenge their deaths at all cost."
An awkward silence fell over the group. "Well," Donnie said at last, in a pitiful attempt to break the silence. "That's . . . nice."
"Those two are Rocket Raccoon and Groot," said Quill. "Rocket's a raccoon and Groot's a tree."
"I ain't no stinkin raccoon, Quill!" Rocket protested. "Ain't no thing out there like me, except me."
Donatello, meanwhile, was absolutely fascinated by Groot. "So you're a tree."
"I am Groot."
"And you're from space."
"I am Groot."
"You're so cool," Donnie breathed.
The lady with antennae approached Leo. "And I am Mantis," she said, beaming a smile. "I know who you are, Leonardo. You are a brave warrior from Earth."
Leo started. "I know you from somewhere, don't I?" he asked. "You look familiar."
"We've met before," Mantis laughed. "Come with me. I must speak with you."
As they left, Quill took sudden notice of the young Asgardian woman who had come to and was staring at everyone with a suspicious glance. Smiling at her, he said, "Hello. What have we here?" He moved close to her and said in his most suave and debonair voice, "Welcome. I'm Star-Lord. I'm the captain of this ship. And who might you be?"
Rocket sniggered. "Oh, look. Quill's doing his suave and debonair voice." This earned him a glare from Quill.
"Sif," the woman responded coldly.
"Welcome, Sif," Quill said with a bow; he then smoothly took Sif's left hand, cupped it in his own, and kissed the back of her armor gauntlet. He'd practiced that one for months.
Sif threw a desperate glance at Thor. Sensing her plea, Thor stood up. "All right, you scoundrel," he said as he took Sif's hand and steered her away from Quill as he began introducing her to the Guardians.
Leo followed Mantis into the ship's cockpit and took a seat in the chair next to hers. Outside, the stars raced by in smears of color.
Suddenly Leo remembered where he'd seen Mantis before. "You're the woman who spoke to me. In the dojo. And to Odin as well."
"I am," Mantis said. She eyed Leo peculiarly, her enormous pupils widening even more.
Her gaze was making him uncomfortable. "So what did you want me for?" he asked her, to break the silence.
Instead of answering his question, Mantis looked out the cockpit and began to tell a story. "Legend tells us the darkness came at a time of great pestilence: farms wielded no food; hearts, no hope. Jealousy and spite lured it to us. Through fear it enslaved the people, but a remnant of hope shined bright in the darkness: the Kappa Yokai, summoned not by anger as the darkness, but instead, by the guardian spirits, the hogosha. Though powerful, they would require training from a master in the art of ninjutsu, one who could teach them the principles of honor, courage, wisdom and brotherhood, to become true heroes and defeat the warlord. With these newfound skills of ninjutsu, the Kappa Yokai were a deadly force, and for the first time in many years darkness was banished from the land. One generation passed the legend on to the next, preserving their memory, should they be needed once more."
She turned to Leonardo. "The galaxy has once again become eclipsed in darkness. You four, you and your brethren, are the next warriors who must defend the galaxy against this pure evil. Your father Hamato Yoshi has trained you well, but for the next part of your training you must journey beyond the realm of ninjitsu, and spend a period of time honing your skills in a world far different from your own. That is why I have called you and your brother here."
Leo stared at her. "You're the hogosha, aren't you?"
Mantis smiled. "Few call me by that name. You can call me Mantis."
Leo smiled back. "Okay, Mantis. When do we start?"
"Soon." Mantis headed back to the main hold. "Our ship is bound for the planet Xandar. There you will meet an old friend."
An old friend? Leo wondered as he followed her.
"Welcome to Xandar," Peter Quill said from the cockpit of the ship. "Capital of the Nova Empire. Population currently about 12 billion."
The Milano descended through Xandar's upper altitudes until it entered breathable air. The initial sight of Xandar seemed warm and inviting, especially to those who'd so recently endured the scorching climate of Asgard.
But when the two starburst-shaped Nova Corps Star Blasters had suddenly swooped into view, it had become quickly evident that the Xandarian skies were far from entirely friendly. Behind Groot, Donatello leaned forward and looked left, past Rocket and out the cockpit window, to see the two Star Blasters that had appeared from out of nowhere. The Nova Corps ships were so close that Donnie could distinguish the Wing Guard pilot whose mouth moved in sync with the voice from the cockpit comlink.
Donnie thought, Welcome to Xandar.
The Nova Corps Wing Guard pilot was getting on Quill's nerves. "No, I don't have a landing permit," Quill repeated into the comlink. "Don't you know who I am? This is Peter Quill!"
"Great," came the reply. "Good for you. You know your own name. Now—"
"Star-Lord?" Quill asked in desperation.
"Who?"
Quill sighed and hung his head in defeat.
"We're the Guardians of the Galaxy, you moron!" Rocket shouted from next to Quill. "We saved your sorry butts from Ronan! Remember? We're like VIPs here!"
From the intercom, the Nova Corps pilot said, "Permission granted to land on Platform 327."
Quill wanted to say something else into the comlink, but instead he said, "Thank you," and switched off. The two Star Blasters escorted the Milano across the sky, and it wasn't long before the capital city came into view. The cityscape had a rounded, decorative design with tall towers and wide plazas. The long shadows of streamlined skyscrapers swept over the Milano's exterior as it passed over the city. The two Nova Corps vessels stuck with the Ravager transport.
Platform 327 was a circular platform at the end of an extended walkway that was connected to an upper level of a skyscraper. The Milano's landing jets fired, and the ship touched down neatly. The Star Blaster escorts flew off.
The ship's landing ramp lowered. Quill stepped down to the platform, followed by the rest of the Guardians, Thor, Sif, Leo, and Donnie. Donnie paused only briefly on the walkway to gaze at the city skyline. Xandar was a very impressive sight, even to a teenage turtle mutant.
"We were on our way to Xandar when we picked you guys up," Quill said as they walked through the open doorway and proceeded through a white-walled corridor. "We're here to meet a contractor."
The group proceeded into the lift, which took them to the ground floor and out into Xandar's busy streets.
Soon they reached a small, one-story building. They stepped inside the circular main room. A skylight dominated the ceiling, and natural light poured in, illuminating the interior and its comfortable furnishings. The entire room and all its contents were white and immaculately clean.
The room's main door slid shut as a side door slid open and a white robotic android entered the room. "I trust your journey here was comfortable?"
Donnie recognized the android immediately, and so did Leo. "Fugitoid!"