Chapter 17: Going Knowhere

Donnie was shocked to see the Fugitoid standing before them. "Professor Honeycut!" he exclaimed. "You're . . . alive!"

The Fugitoid chuckled. "That I am, Donatello! And I've never felt better."

"But, how?" Leo asked. "You sacrificed yourself to save Earth!"

"You mean when I crashed my ship into the Triceraton vessel to wipe out their fleet and the Black Hole Generator?"

Donnie and Leo nodded vigorously.

"Well, it's quite simple, really," Fugitoid said. "My body might have been destroyed, but my head was still intact, and I reactivated sometime after the explosion. I was drifting through the cosmos for quite some time—decades, I believe. Then I ended up inside a scavenger vessel, and I was transported to Xandar. I managed to rebuild my body and have been living here ever since."

"Wait," Peter Quill interrupted. He pointed in confusion between the Fugitoid and the turtles. "You guys know each other?"

"Yes," said the Fugitoid. "I saved Leonardo and Donatello and their friends when the Earth was destroyed by a superweapon created by the Kraang. We had all sorts of adventures across the cosmos travelling back in time to stop them."

"The professor here sacrificed himself to save billions on Earth," Donnie added.

"Real commendable of ya, Doc," Rocket said. "So what are we all doin' here? I was told you had a job for us."

"Erm, that I do," the Fugitoid said preoccupiedly. He was rummaging through a crate in the center of the room, then pulled out a small glowing yellow cylinder with metal caps on each ends.

Drax suddenly became excited, and pointed at the object. "I recognize that, Quill!" he shouted. "It's a harbulary battery!"

Quill rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you, Drax. It's anulax battery."

"A what?" asked Donnie. The turtles were confused.

"Anulax batteries are among the most powerful sources of energy in the universe," the Fugitoid explained. "They also have a highly combustible nature, so do be careful."

"And they're worth thousands of units," said Rocket. "Selling just one of those things makes you rich. Like, stupid rich."

"The highly advanced genetically engineered race known as the Sovereign use them mostly, but they have been known to occasionally give them to outsiders," the Fugitoid said. "I was actually the scientist who developed the anulax battery for them."

Thor had been staring intently at Fugitoid the entire conversation, and finally spoke. "I recognize you now, android. You were once the scientist Zayton Honeycut, were you not?"

"I was indeed, Thor Odinson," the Fugitoid said. "I suppose I still am."

"My father spoke of you," Thor went on. "You supplied these anulax batteries to Asgard as well. We use them to power the gateway we use to harness the Bifrost."

"Ah, yes, the Bifrost Bridge," said the Fugitoid. "That's what I need your help with, all of you. It's no secret to me that Asgard was just decimated by an overwhelming attack carried out by Loki Laufeyson."

"How came you by that information?" Sif asked.

"I have a lot of free time on my hands here on Xandar, and I try to stay informed about the happenings in the galaxy," Fugitoid answered. "What I can tell you all is that Loki's army is poised to invade the Earth, and has likely already conquered the planet. I've called you all here because I need your help in repairing the Bifrost Bridge so that we can travel back to Earth and stop them."

"If we can get enough of those anulax batteries, we might be able to repair the Bifrost Bridge and get home!" Donnie realized.

"Precisely, Donatello," said the Fugitoid.

"Great," said Gamora. "So where are we going to get the funds from to buy all these batteries?"

The room fell silent. None of them knew anybody who had that kind of money, to purchase even a handful. "Why don't we just break into the Sovereign planet and steal 'em?" Rocket asked.

Gamora rolled her eyes. "Because that went so well the last time you pulled that stunt."

"Can't you just make more?" Mantis asked Fugitoid, who shook his robotic head sadly.

"I wish I could, Mantis," Fugitoid said. "But I have neither the equipment nor the time to undertake such a venture. It would take me months to develop enough."

"So what are we going to do?" asked Thor.

"There is one other option," said Fugitoid hesitantly. "This one is the more logical one. There are a handful of anulax batteries scattered across the galaxy. They are all relatively close to each other. I've been able to pinpoint their locations."

"Why didn't you just go get them?" Gamora asked.

"That's where you come in," Fugitoid said. "I need a ship. You have one."

"Sorry, Professor, but the Milano isn't for sale," said Quill.

Fugitoid held up his hands. "No, no, Star-Lord, nothing of the sort!" he said. "I wouldn't dream of purchasing your vessel from you. But I am very interested in hiring you and your crew as transportation to recover the anulax batteries for me. I'm prepared to pay you handsomely for your trouble."

Peter's eyes widened. "Wait." He narrowed his gaze. "I'm not sure if I heard you right. What did you call me?"

"Star-Lord?" Fugitoid repeated. "I believe that is your official moniker, isn't it?"

"Yes, but . . ." Quill stopped. "Huh. So that's what it feels like."

Rocket interrupted him. "Just say yes, Quill. We need the money. Plus I've been itching for some action lately anyway."

"The Lady Sif and I will come with you," Thor said. "You will need all the help you can get."

"We're in, too," Leo added, and Donnie nodded his assent.

"Excellent," said the Fugitoid. "I'll give you the coordinates for our first stop when we get to your ship." He grabbed his crate and followed the Guardians out the door.

Donnie looked at Leo, who shrugged. "Well," said the blue turtle, "off on another adventure."

The Milano left Xandar and warped to the Fugitoid's coordinates, somewhere on the edge of the known universe. When they exited hyperspace, there was nothing but the endless starfield in front of them. Quill was in charge of the music, having hooked up his Zune portable media player to the Milano's comm system. Right now, "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John was playing. Leo found himself tapping his foot to the relaxing song. Quill had a great taste in music.

"So where are we going?" he asked.

"Knowhere," Quill replied, in the pilot seat of the Milano as usual.

"Ha ha," said Leo, thinking it was a joke. "No, seriously. Where we headed?"

"Knowhere is a place, Leonardo," said the Fugitoid. "It is the severed head of a powerful extraterrestrial cosmic being known as a Celestial. The head has eroded and decayed over the millenia, and it now serves as a scientific station for anyone seeking to study events at the edge of the universe."

"In fact," said Quill, "we should be coming up on it . . . now."

As soon as he spoke, a dark silhouette at the edge of the starfield began growing rapidly. It was indeed a giant decapitated head, and Donnie guessed it was probably a little bigger than the size of Earth's moon. The entire head was there, as was part of the spinal cord hanging out from the back of the head. Most of it appeared to be bone, but there was evidence that people had been living there, as small structures had been built on the outside of the head and base of the spinal cord as well.

The Milano's comm system buzzed as the Knowhere control center sent them a transmission. "Unknown vessel, please identify yourself," said a voice.

Fugitoid leaned over and pressed a button. "Richard, it's Fugitoid. I've acquired a new vessel, and I'm bringing guests."

"Professor Honeycut?" asked the voice. "Good to hear from you again, sir!"

The Fugitoid directed the Milano to fly through the giant head's right eye socket. Donnie wasn't sure what he had expected going inside the ship, but what he saw was nothing like what he would have imagined. The entire skull cavity of the head had been turned into a giant mining colony. Abandoned mining apparatus lay everywhere, and catwalks and scaffolding had been erected to allow for access to the walls, where miners had constructed all kinds of burrows and tunnels.

"Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group began sending workers in here to mine the rare organic materials," the Fugitoid explained to the turtles. "Knowhere used to attract all sorts of criminals, outlaws, and rogues from across the galaxy because the mining was illegal and dangerous. Then the Kree enforcer known as Ronan the Accuser attacked and wiped out much of the mines. Ever since then, the place has been mostly abandoned."

The Milano flew straight on until they saw a landing pad constructed in the wall, and Quill set them down on it. The group left the ship and followed the Fugitoid down the walkway to the blast doors at the end of the landing pad. As the door opened, they stepped inside.

The room was a large, spacious L-shaped control center. To their immediate right was a control station next to a large window which showed them a view of space. These control panels were probably the air traffic control station. Behind the control station on the far wall was a pair of blue energy-powered containment units.

To their left the room continued on towards a large table and a door at the far end of the room. At the table stood two beings. One of them was clad in a blue uniform with a yellow and red helmet. The other appeared to be some kind of dog in a space suit. The space suit's helmet was broken, allowing the dog's head to poke through.

The dog saw them coming and bounded over, tongue wagging out of its mouth. "Cosmo is so happy to see Professor Honeycutt!" said a voice. Donnie realized the dog was talking through some kind of gadget attached to its collar.

"A talking dog!" Donnie said. "That's awesome!"

Fugitoid bent down and pet the dog affectionately, which was jumping at him and licking the inside of its space helmet joyously. "Cosmo, old boy, did you miss me?" the android asked before turning to the others.

"Cosmo says hello to friends!" the dog added, jumping around near the feet of the others. Mantis giggled and bent down, stroking the dog's head affectionately.

"Old Cosmo here was a test animal of the Soviet Space Program," said Fugitoid. "He was launched into Earth's orbit as part of an experiment but he drifted off into space during the 1960's."

"Da!" Cosmo said. "Cosmo arrivink in Knowhere after lots of floatink and becomink head of security chief for space station!"

"Cute. Does he know any tricks?" Rocket asked.

Fugitoid bent and handed Cosmo a paper tied with string. "I almost forgot," he said. "I brought you a gift from Xandar."

Cosmo accepted the paper bag in his mouth. "So kind. You are true comrade." The dog let go of the packet and stared intently as it floated in the air, turning round and round as it unwrapped, seemingly by invisible hands. Donnie's jaw dropped.

"Well," Rocket said, slightly impressed. "Ain't that somethin'."

"Cosmo underwent a mutation during his space travels," Fugitoid explained. "He's actually a very power telepath."

"Ooh!" Cosmo said excitedly as the package opened. "Red rubber ball! How did Fugitoid know is Cosmo's favorite?" The dog grabbed the ball in his teeth, chomping on it happily as it squeaked.

The other figure approached. "I'm afraid my powers are nowhere near those of Cosmo's, though, if you're looking for tricks," he said. "My name is Nova. Friends call me by Richard Rider."

Quill spoke up. "That's a Xandarian Nova Corp uniform you're wearing."

"You one of the fuzz?" Rocket asked.

Nova laughed. "Hardly. Honorable discharge after Ronan's invasion." He turned to the Fugitoid. "So to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm afraid it's anything but pleasure," said Fugitoid grimly. He quickly explained their plight to Nova.

Nova smiled grimly. "It's a daring plan. But it could work." He motioned to Cosmo. "Hey, Cosmo, go grab those bracelets."

"Yes, Comrade Nova!" Cosmo said, bounding over to a crate and rooting around in it before coming up with a handful of futuristic wristbands in his mouth. "These are teleportink wristbands for intergalactic travel, comrades!" the dog said as he walked around, giving each person one of them. "You will be needink them for fast travel to retrievink anulax batteries!"

Leo strapped his to his wrist. It looked almost like a smart watch on Earth. "The teleporter built into the bracelet receives the coordinates from these teleporter tubes here—" the Fugitoid pointed to the two energy-power containment units "—and allows for instant travel to virtually anywhere."

The Fugitoid looked around at the group in front of him. "Inter-dimensional teleportation does cause some wear and tear on most organics," he said. "So I would recommend that we take smaller-sized expeditions, no more than perhaps five or six at a time. And we are constantly changing groups so that some might have a chance to rest."

Leo stepped forward. "I'm in." He looked at Donnie.

The purple turtle hesitated. "If you don't mind, I'd like to sit the first couple out and get my fill of all of this sweet tech." He gestured around.

"You can be my controller's assistant, Donatello," said Fugitoid. "Anyone else?"

Quill stepped forward with a swagger. "Never let it be said that the fearless Star-Lord wasn't up for an adventure."

"I too will accompany my friend on this bold adventure," said Drax.

Gamora stepped forward. "I'm in."

Rocket glanced over at Groot, who was down on one knee with Mantis as they both played with Cosmo. "I think I'll sit this one out," he said. "On account of Groot and Mantis need someone to keep them out of trouble."

Thor came over. "You may count on the assistance of the Lady Sif and I," he said. "I've been in a scrapping mood ever since the fall of Asgard."

"Perfect," said the Fugitoid. "Nova can show you all to your rooms. When you're ready, just meet back here and we shall depart."

The group filed out of the control room after Nova. Rocket glanced over at Groot as they left, who was petting Cosmo and scratching the dog's ears. "You do know what those things do to trees, right?" he asked Groot.

"I am Groot?" Groot asked quizzically.

Rocket chuckled. "It ain't pretty, Groot. It ain't pretty."

Donnie's room was right next to Leo's, two identical rooms with clean beds and a sink and mirror. Leo popped into Donnie's room on his way back to the control room. "Hey, Don." He looked around at the room. "You look like you're all settled in here."

Startled, Donnie jumped. "Huh? Oh . . . yeah."

"You alright?" asked Leo. "You seem a little . . . distant."

"Y-yeah," said Donnie. "I'm fine, Leo. Just a little overwhelmed, is all."

There was an awkward silence. "Alright," Leo finally said. He turned to leave but stopped when Donnie spoke.

"Leo? Do you think everybody back home is okay?"

Leo walked over and patted Donnie's shoulder. "I'm sure they are. Come on, Donnie. We've made it through three different alien invasions. This one's nothing new. We'll get those anulax batteries, fix the Bifrost, get home and stick it to Loki."

Donnie smiled. "That's comforting. Thanks, Leo."

"No problem, Donnie," Leo said, grinning. "I'm headed up. See you when I get back."

"Alright," Donnie said, watching as his brother left through the door. It suddenly struck him that this could be the last time he'd ever see Leo. He'd never thought about that before, but his world had been turned upside down when Thor had come to Earth for him and Leo. He hadn't seen his family or April or Casey in days now.

It was like a wake-up call for him. Nothing was permanent or guaranteed. Not even family. He sighed and pulled out his T-phone. The wifi icon had a line through it, indicating they were out of cell range. Donnie went to the photo album and started flipping through old photos of him and his brothers.

Mikey and him playing video games and eating pizza. Raph bench-pressing Donnie's computer towers. Leo organizing everybody in a game of Mazes & Mutants. April helping him with his projects. Casey taking selfies after swiping Donnie's phone and hacking it.

The last photo, the first one he'd taken, was a selfie of him, his four brothers, and Master Splinter in the dojo after a training session. Donnie was surprised to feel himself getting choked up. He swallowed hard.

There was a reason people told each other stories, he realized. The details they focused on. The ones they left out. The order they put things in . . . it all mattered. Sometimes a lot. Because they needed those stories to get through the day. Through the hard times.

This was his story—the one he played over and over in his head while everything was going wrong. It was the one where he was on top of the world with his brothers and his friends Where he felt safest. Where he was loved. Where he wasn't alone.

Because they were together.