Chapter 23: The Triceraton-Kree War
Leo felt the sweat roll down his neck and into his shell as he parried a blow from Sif's sword. His katana swept her weapon to the right, and Sif moved with the strike to keep her balance. She ducked an overhead swing and thrust her blade into his midsection—or would have if Leo hadn't already dodged the strike.
He came in on Sif's left, using his katanas in a complicated series of maneuvers that forced her to backtrack quickly in order to keep up. She was a few steps from the wall when she clenched her jaw. Leo sensed the shift in her focus, and prepared himself for her counterattack. Sif came on fiercely, driving Leo backward with multiple hard strokes. He ducked a low upper swing that would have taken his head off if this were a real fight.
Leo rolled back and out of the way when she drove her blade into the floor of the exercise gym on Knowhere where his foot was moments earlier. As he came out of his roll, Sif met him, driving her blade towards his right side. Leo deftly twisted the katana hilts in his grasp and deflected Sif's attack. She spun when he thrust with the blades to get under her defenses on the left, distracting her long enough for him to leap back to his feet.
They were both breathing heavy. Leo felt proud that he could make Sif tired; the fact that he could go toe to toe with an Asgardian warrior was a serious compliment to his skills. This was way better than practicing against his brothers at home. He grinned, nodding to her. "This was a great idea, Lady Sif."
She smirked in response and came back at him, feinting left but driving her blade to the right at the last moment. Leo got his weapons up in time but caught her blade at the base of his. In alarm, he realized that Sif was about to disarm him. Thinking fast, he dropped his weapons and grabbed her wrists, pushing her backwards.
Sif's eyes widened in surprise as she realized Leo was switching from swords to hand-to-hand sparring. Hand-to-hand was his specialty, just as hers was swordsmanship. She dropped her sword and twisted her right wrist from his grasp, sending it at his midsection.
Leo dodged just out of reach and used her own momentum against her, pulling her to his side. She grabbed him and bent at the knees, flipping him over her head. The blue turtle landed with a thud on the mat and blinked in shock. Sif landed on top of him, her face close to his.
"Ha!" she laughed. "You're getting better, Leonardo. But you should probably save the fist fights for me."
Leo laughed and coughed at the same time as their eyes met. His world slowed as the moment caught up with him, and he was suddenly taken away by the marvelous beauty of this woman. His breath caught in his chest as he gazed at Sif, her lips tantalizingly close.
He gazed openly into her brown eyes, captivated by their keen intelligence. And she stared right back at him; openly admiring him for what he thought was the first time. Her cheeks flushed red, and she stood, brushing off her pants. Leo lay still for a moment longer before he to got to his feet.
"I'll see you in the morning," Sif muttered, not meeting his gaze. "I am weary, and I want to take a long shower." She turned and walked to the door.
Leo mumbled a pathetic "O-okay, see you tomorrow" as she left. He watched her go, and sighed. I think I'm in love . . .
A chime came over the station's intercom. "Hey, guys," Donnie said. "Professor Hunnicutt is back. Meet in the control room in ten minutes." In a daze, Leo walked out of the room towards the control center.
Since he'd met Sif, he'd had a crush on her. Both of them had been spending a lot of time sparring together and now they were friends. He'd had crushes before; he'd had a complicated relationship with Karai before he'd found out they were adopted siblings, so that wasn't an option anymore.
But then this gorgeous warrior brunette had appeared in his life, by mere chance. He was enamored by everything about her; her beauty, her skill with a weapon, her independent yet gentle personality. In a way, she reminded him a lot of Karai. At least, before he'd found out he and Karai were related.
He reached the control room to see the others gathered inside. "Ah, welcome, Leonardo," Fugitoid said. "Gather round, everyone."
A map of the galaxy lit up on screen, showing two glowing yellow dots. Fugitoid's pointer finger retracted into his android body to reveal a laser pointer, which he pointed at the screen with. "We have nearly recovered enough anulax batteries to restore the Bifrost to its former glory," he said. "All we need are the two that Dregg provided us locations for. One of them is located on Hala, homeworld of the Kree. The other battery's coordinates are here—"
The screen changed to show what appeared to be a giant planet, pink in color, with blue apertures that looked like eyes and a mouth. "—at the planetary shell built around the Celestial known as Ego."
"Ego?" Peter Quill exclaimed. "I think Dregg was lying about that one. There's no way there's anything still there. We blew Ego into subatomic space dust."
"Wait, time out," asked Donnie. "Who's Ego?"
"Ego is an extremely powerful being, and one of the few known Celestials in the galaxy," Fugitoid explained.
"And he is also Quill's father," Drax said.
"And he's a lunatic psychopath who tried to terraform every planet with life on it at once!" Quill finished.
"Wow," Donnie said. "Sounds like he and the Kraang would get along just fine."
"Unfortunately, yes," Fugitoid said. "But more importantly, Knowhere's sensors have detected a large mass headed towards Ego's coordinates as we speak. The scanners have been unable to identify for certain what this is, but a mass of this size could only be Galactus."
The room went deathly silent. Galactus was a cosmic entity, born with the universe itself. "He preserves the balance of life by eating planets," Thor said. "He sends his herald, a being known as the Silver Surfer, before him to search for an overpopulated planet to consume. The Silver Surfer visited Asgard once before, but deemed it too small to quench Galactus's appetite."
Quill threw his head back and laughed. "Haha! That's too perfect! So let's just let Galactus eat my dad and then we can swoop in and grab the battery later."
"And how exactly do you propose we retrieve an anulax battery from the bowels of an intergalactic monster, and then escape with our lives?" Thor asked.
The room went silent again. Finally Leo said, "We don't even really know what's going on here. Can't we at least go to Ego and see what's happening, or even look for the battery?"
"Count me out," Quill said, storming from the room.
The mood was tense as he left. Finally, Fugitoid cleared his throat. "Well, if we're sending a landing party, we'd better pick our men."
Mantis paled. "I would prefer not to go. Ego kept me as his slave for years—"
"Very understandable, Mantis," Drax said. "I will go in her stead. Ego and I have many more stories to share with each other."
"I gotta stay and watch after Groot," Rocket said. "He ain't nothing but a sliver of wood at the moment."
"That means I'm staying too," Gamora sighed. "I don't trust you idiots not to blow this place up while we're gone."
"Cosmo can be goink with comrades this time?" Cosmo asked, bounding up and down and barking for joy.
"I suppose so, Cosmo," Fugitoid said. "We've certainly got enough staying behind to man the station. Nova, Cosmo, and I will go, as will Leonardo, Thor, and Lady Sif. The rest of you, go about business as usual. We'll contact the station when we have a bit more of a handle on what is happening."
"Sounds good," Gamora said. She moved to the controls as the heroes stepped inside the teleporter tubes, activating them. There was a shimmer of blue, and the group vanished.
Sitting back in the swivel chair, Gamora closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Too often it felt like she was babysitting the Guardians rather than participating as a team member. She wouldn't be able to do this without something to drink.
She headed for the lift, taking it to Knowhere's cafeteria level. The snack bar had a variety of drinks from different worlds. Feeling adventurous, she hit the shuffle button on the dispensary, and it clicked and hummed before pouring her a glass of dark brownish-red carbonated liquid. On the screen, the data file on the drink listed it as "Dr. Pepper," a strange concoction from Quill's home planet Earth. She raised the glass to her mouth and took a sip. An interesting taste. Sweet, but a deeper sweet, like a sugary syrup, lightened with fruit and spice flavors.
Taking her drink, she strode over to the large window near a set of tables, where she was surprised to see Mantis sitting cross-legged staring out into space. The alien empath jumped slightly as Gamora approached, turning her big dark eyes onto the green-skinned woman. "Oh, Gamora," she said. "I am sorry, I didn't see you."
"It's okay, Mantis," Gamora smirked, sitting down next to her. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yes," Mantis said, stammering. "I am unsure. The reappearance of Ego in our lives has awakened some feelings in me, that I thought long gone. I . . . struggle to cope." She smiled sadly. "Ironic. I'm an empath who can process the emotions of others, but I cannot process my own."
"That's okay, Mantis," Gamora said, patting her on the shoulder comfortingly. "I think I know exactly how you feel."
Puzzled, Mantis looked over. "You do?"
"Yes," said Gamora. "Both of our parents were taken from us by murderous sadistic tyrants bent on galactic conquer. Their dark deeds will likely torment us for the rest of our lives."
As she spoke, Mantis felt herself closing her eyes against the intensity of the feeling she picked up from Gamora where she was touching her. Guilt, anger, sadness, shame, self-hatred, disgust. Agitation and so much self-loathing that Mantis' eyes wet with tears. The emotions seemed to whirl together and multiply with every passing second, frustration, anger and trepidation mixing into it, making Gamora seem alone and helpless in her sadness and dread. But everything was tinted with a layer of hope, bittersweet and misfitting and somehow making everything worse. "Oh," she said, as the noise choked from her lungs and she drew back slightly.
A crash from outside the room drew their attention. Gamora looked at Mantis apologetically. "I'm sorry, I should go make sure they aren't tearing the place apart." She stood and left.
Mantis went back to staring out the window in solace. She felt guilty for reading Gamora's emotions without permission, though the whole thing had been kind of sudden. And she'd managed to find out more about the way she felt, through the encounter. She would have to thank Gamora later. For now, she had a lot to process.
Experiment. Fail. Learn. Repeat.
This had been the culmination of Donnie's years that he had spent studying mutagen, looking for a way to reverse its effects and maybe turn him and his brothers into humans. He'd had a vial tucked away in his shell for a rainy day, and had completely forgotten about it before almost crushing it in his sleep.
So he'd gone down to Knowhere's high-tech laboratory to run some tests and see if there were any answers to be found out here in space that he'd missed on Earth. He had built up theories and formulas on a whiteboard. Mutagen was pretty unstable, so he made sure that whatever he mixed wouldn't cause more damage than good. He had first had to increase his batch of mutagen so he'd have plenty to runs tests on.
He'd finally gotten a test tube's worth of mutagen and had filled an eye dropper with the translucent green liquid. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he focused on not dropping the chemical into anything other than the Petri dish on the counter.
"What's cooking, good looking?"
Donnie jumped in his seat at Rocket's sudden question. Thankfully the formula he'd been working with had stayed in the test tube. Careful so the liquid wouldn't spill, Donnie set the test tube back in its holder before looking down on at Rocket. "I'm sorry?"
"You seem pretty focused up there. Whatcha up to?" Rocket crossed his arms.
Donnie turned back down to the other test tube, stirring the orange liquid. "Sorry, Rocket, but it's pretty scientific. I'm not sure you'd even understand it."
"Aw, come on." Rocket hopped up onto the counter nimbly. Even though he had the intelligence of a human, he still moved and acted like a rodent. Donnie jumped.
"Hey— please get off of there. I'm busy."
"I see that, Donnie," Rocket continued. "Listen, I'll get off your back. Just school me."
"Do you actually care, or are you just asking to be nice?"
"Eh," Rocket shrugged. "I pour water into Groot's pot every day and I wait about twenty minutes to see if he grows any. So I got some time to kill."
Donnie shook his head. "Alright. But please—" he sighed, looking back up from the beaker and back at the rodent. "If you're going to be up here, at least wash your paws."
He grumbled, plodding over to the sink across the tabletop. Donnie crinkled his brow in disgust, thinking of the dirt that he was tracking over the tabletop. That wasn't sanitary. He sighed, abandoning his experiment in favor of now washing off the tabletop.
Rocket ran the faucet, and half-heartedly stuck his hands under the water. No soap. After about two seconds, he pulled his hands back out.
"With soap." Donnie chided. "We aren't animals."
Rocket laughed heartily at that, flicking his hands of excess water. "Well, Don, I don't know if you've looked in a mirror lately, but we sure ain't human."
"That may be, Rocket, but I understand the betters of good hygiene. Wash your hands."
He rolled his eyes and groaned, squirting soap into his hand now. He finished lathering his paws in soap and washed them off. As he pulled away, Donnie piped up again. "Your feet, too."
"What?"
"You're barefoot, and you tracked dirt over the counter. It's unsanitary."
"What is it with Terrans and sanitation?" Rocket grumbled. But he was finally washed off properly— at least on his paws. Donnie had no idea if the rest of his body was even remotely clean, but he didn't have time to worry about that. He had roughly a boatload of retro-mutagen to make. After rinsing off the countertop, he turned back to his experiment.
"Sorry, Rocket, but this lab needs to be as sterilized as possible for the experiment to work," Donnie said. He held up the test tube containing the glowing orange liquid. "In this test tube we have a mixture of several chemicals. Uranate, phenol, and beta-mercaptoethanol, with just a hint of chloroform." Ignoring Rocket's yawn, he continued, "In this other test tube we have mutagen, a chemical substance from a parallel dimension that causes genetic mutations. The goal here is to turn this mutagen into a substance that will reverse, or undo, its effects. A retro-mutagen, if you will."
Donnie breathed in and exhaled before letting the mutagen drop into the Petri dish and mix with the test tube's liquid. Except the two substances didn't mix; they stood apart like water and oil. Donnie frowned.
"They didn't mix," Rocket said. "What does that mean?"
"It seems the mixture needs an organic catalyst, otherwise the mutagen and chemicals don't blend," Donnie muttered. "Mutagen only reacts to living things." He had already tested his earlier batches against Mutagen Man in the lair, but he had to see the reaction of this specific formula.
Grabbing a beaker, he added a touch of April's DNA. Her DNA was the key, as she was invulnerable to mutagen's effects. Then he added more test tube liquid, and grabbed a sample of hydrocarbon from another countertop, pouring a bit into the beaker.
Finally he added the mutagen and backed away. The beaker's liquid mixed, but it didn't change color. It stayed a glowing green. Donnie sighed. "Rats. Well, let's keep testing." He picked up the beaker and walked it over to the sink, intent on dumping it down the drain and flushing it into space.
Unfortunately for Donnie, he stepped on a small puddle caused from one of his earlier experiments. "Whoa!" he shouted, as his feet flew out from under him and he landed on his back. The beaker flew into the air, spinning lazily, and the turtle watched in horror, as if in a slow-motion sequence. The mutagen splashed out as the beaker landed in Groot's pot, soaking the stick clipping that had been planted there as well as the earth in the pot.
"Aw, sewer apples!" Donnie cried, rushing over. Please don't turn. Please don't turn. Please don't turn. Pleeeease . . . he willed silently.
Nothing happened. Donnie breathed out a sigh of relief. "It doesn't work!" he said happily.
Rocket wrinkled his brow. "Uh, I thought that was bad."
"I mean it is," Donnie clarified, "but it could have changed Groot into something really messed up."
"Better than him living out the rest of his life as a fetching toy for Cosmo," Rocket said. "I don't know, maybe he really is gone this time." Sadly he hopped off the counter, heading out the door. "I'm gonna go find Drax."
"O-okay," Donnie stammered, watching him go. He turned back to his experiment. He had to find a cure. He just had to. If they ever got out of this and got home, and he could somehow change his family back and save the world, well . . . it would make this whole thing worth it.
In his rush to get back to work, he failed to notice the wooden stake planted twitch and shift just a little, growing ever so slightly.
Peter had his Zune on, volume turned up to max, listening to "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson. He stood in the center of the room in Knowhere's training facility, the electronic countdown number flashing before his eyes. 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
The timer blared, and from the walls and floor appeared targets made to look like humanoid creatures. Columns emerged from the walls and floor and then retracted, changing the terrain at random. Quill spun his dual pistols and fired laser blasts off at the targets, bulls-eyeing each one. Some of the targets fired back, and he had to time his shots in order to dodge the return fire.
Leaping onto an extending column, he rode it across the room, catching several of the targets in headshots. When the column stopped, he activated his boot jets and rocketed into the air, flying above and spinning in circles while blasting away.
When he landed he tried shaking things up, dancing in time to the music while shooting at the targets. He lip-synced, "Don't stop till you get enough," as he turned and vaporized the head of one of the targets.
But no matter how many targets he blasted, or how many dance moves he busted out, or how many lyrics he mouthed, he still couldn't get his dad out of his head. He didn't even consider Ego his real dad. Ego had just gotten his mother pregnant and then killed her after he'd been born by planting a tumor inside her. Yondu was the closest thing to a dad Peter had ever had.
He'd gotten along well with Ego at first; they'd bonded over their love of 1970s pop culture. But then Ego had told Peter that he'd been the one who gave his mom cancer. He'd also destroyed Peter's Walkman, one of his last ties to his home planet Earth. One of his Ravager friends Kraglin had gotten him his Zune as a replacement, but it wasn't the same.
Quill sighed as he switched off the Zune. This wasn't working. He needed a bigger distraction. He took the lift to the control room and buzzed in on the intercom. "Guys, everybody come to the control room."
Within minutes the Guardians had gathered in the room, as had Donnie. "What's going on, Quill?" Drax asked.
"Guys, every precious second we spend here sitting on our butts is doing nothing to help Donnie and Leo get home," he said. "I vote we take the Milano to Hala to get the other battery while the rest of them are on Ego. It's only a couple of hyperspace jumps away."
"Quill, are you crazy?" Gamora asked. "We were supposed to stay here and watch Knowhere."
"One of us was," Quill said. "That's why if you guys don't want to come you don't have to. I just wanted to let you know what I was doing."
"Quill, Hala is Kree turf," Gamora said. "Do you think they'll just hand over the anulax battery if we ask nicely?"
"You never know. Stranger things have happened." Quill shrugged.
"Somehow, I doubt that," Drax muttered.
Quill glared at him. "I was being sarcastic, you dumb brick."
"For one thing, I am not a dumb brick," said Drax. "And for another thing, you lie. To my knowledge, nothing stranger than this has ever happened."
"Maybe we should wait—" Mantis began.
"No, we can't," Quill interrupted. "If I spend another minute on this space station I'm gonna go crazy. I need some fresh air. Anybody coming with me?"
There was a quiet silence. Finally Drax stepped forward. "I will go with you, Quill," he said. "You are my captain and my friend."
"Thanks, Drax," said Quill.
"I will come with Drax," said Mantis reluctantly.
"Count me in," Rocket said. "My trigger finger's been itchy lately."
"It would be cool to visit a new planet," Donnie said, half to himself. And maybe he'd find some clue about the retro-mutagen. "I'm coming too."
Finally it was just Gamora left. She rolled her eyes. "One of these days you're going to get us killed," she sighed as she joined them.
They headed to the Milano and piled in. Rocket had brought Groot's potted plant. The stick still hadn't moved, from what Donnie could tell, although it did have a slightly different color than before. It also had a small leafy sprig growing from one side. He couldn't tell if that was because of the mutagen or because of Rocket watering it every day for the past four days. He'd have to run some tests when they got back.
The Milano flew out of the hangar bay of Knowhere and immediately jumped to hyperspace.
They came out of hyperspace to a shocking sight. The planet of Hala, homeworld of the Kree, was surrounded by capital ships. Many of them were Kree battlecruisers, but Donnie recognized the strange conical shapes as well. Triceraton motherships.
The whole Triceraton fleet was here. The two space armadas, like their sea-bound counterparts of Earth, sat floating, ship to ship, trading broadsides with each other in point-blank confrontation. Heroic, sometimes suicidal, maneuvers marked the battle. Donnie watched as a Kree cruiser, its back alive with fires and explosions, limped into direct contact with a Triceraton Mothership before exploding completely—taking the Mothership with it. Cargo ships loaded with charge were set on collision courses with fortress-vessels, their crews abandoning ships to fates that were uncertain, at best. The battlefield was a diffuse red glow, spotted with puffs of smoke, blazing fireballs, whirling spark showers, spinning debris, rumbling implosions, shafts of light, tumbling machinery, space-frozen corpses, wells of blackness, electron storms.
It was a grim and dazzling spectacle. And only beginning.
"Quill, what did you get us into?" Gamora shouted.
"I don't know!" Quill protested. "The Kree and the Triceraton have been at war for months, but I had no idea they were launching an assault on Hala!"
"Not these guys again! Let's get out of here!" Donnie said.
"We can't," Rocket said. "Kree reinforcement cruisers just exited hyperspace. They're blocking our route out of here."
"At least they're fighting each other and not us," Quill said. The moment he said that, a Kree fighter wing detached from the nearest cruiser and flew an interception path on the Milano, strafing the ship with laser fire. The Milano's shields held, but the crew was jostled in their seats.
"Now what?" Mantis asked.
For a few moments, there was a deathly silence. Finally Quill grabbed the flight yoke. "We came for an anulax battery and we're not leaving without one," he said.
"What?" Gamora yelled.
"I'd rather take my chances down on the surface than sitting up here like a sitting duck waiting to be blown into subatomic space dust!" Quill said.
Laser beams flashed around the Milano as Rocket's fingers danced across the controls in the copilot seat. The Milano danced in response, avoiding the beams. "Y'know, call me crazy," he muttered as the ship wove through a swarm of Triceraton starfighters, "but ain't space supposed to be empty?"
Quill steered the Milano into the complete flip, firing at the Triceraton ships. Two were direct hits, the third a glancing blow that caused the Triceraton fighter to tumble into another of its own squads. The heavens were absolutely thick with them, but the Milano was faster by half than anything else that flew.
The Kree starfighters were swarming the remaining Triceraton starfighters that had screened the immense Triceraton flagship, the Zura. Kree pilots shot down starfighter after starfighter with machine-like precision. When the last of the Triceraton fighters had been converted to an expanding globe of superheated gas, the Kree starships peeled away, leaving the flagship exposed to the full fire of Kree Home Fleet Strike Group Five: three frigates and a Kree cruiser.
Turbolasers blasted against Zura's faltering shields, but the flagship was giving as good as it got: one of the escort frigates had sustained so much damage that it was little more than a target to absorb the Zura's return fire, and the second frigate was only a shell, most of its crew dead or evacuated, being run remotely by its commander and bridge crew; it swung unsteadily through the Zura's vector cone of escape routes to block any attempt to run up toward jump.
On the Zura's bridge, overheated crew members were strapped into their battle stations in full crash webbing. The air reeked of burning metal and the funk of Triceraton stress sweat, and the erratically shifting gravity threatened to add a sharper stench: the faces of several of the Triceraton bridge officers had already paled from a healthy orange to a nauseated gray-green.
The sole being on the bridge who was not strapped into a chair stalked from one side to the other, in the scarred, battle-worn uniform of a Triceraton naval officer. He ignored the jolts of impact and was unaffected by the swirl of unpredictable gravity as he paced the deck. From his appearance one might assume that he been to hell and back; the horn on his nose had been snapped off, leaving a sharp pointed stub. His face bore the scars of a long military campaign, and he wore a steel prosthetic over his beak.
His expression could not be read—his eyes, the right one a blazing green and the left a milky white glazed over in a scar, were expressionless—but one could tell from the way he answered his comlink that he needed to hear some good news. "Report."
"By the glory of Zanmoran, our ground forces are succeeding, Captain Mozar," said a voice on the other end. It was Commander Zoran, another member of the Triceraton army, and the second-in-command of the Triceraton ground forces. "Our forces have pushed the Kree line back to the Imperial Palace. We've sliced the genetic archives' computer and collected its contents."
"Well done, Commander," said Mozar. "Your forces are to be commended."
"I will order a full retreat back to the Zura," Zoran said.
"No," Mozar snapped. "Load desolation protocols and secure the landing pads for capture. We then proceed toward our ultimate goal."
"But, sir, if I may speak freely, we've corrupted their genetic archive," Zoran said. "Any stored data is now decayed."
"That is not enough, soldier!" shouted Mozar. "My orders are not to be questioned! Prepare for Phase Two." He abruptly ended the transmission before Zoran could object any further.
Mozar had once been the glorious Supreme Commander of the Triceraton Fleet, before suffering a humiliating defeat in his attempt to destroy the Kraang stronghold of Earth. The cursed Zayton Hunnicut and his rogue turtles had managed to not only wipe out all the Triceraton forces, but also destroy their precious Heart of Darkness superweapon. They likely had thought him dead, but he managed to survive thanks to a pressure suit of Magdomarian turtle armor and his own tough Triceraton hide. He would have continued the assault on Earth had it not been for the intergalactic decree declaring the planet off-limits. Emperor Zanmoran had given him a chance to regain his former glory by leading a direct assault against their enemy the Kree.
The Emperor was specifically interested in the Kree-developed process of Terrigenesis. A radical faction of the Kree known as the Reapers had experimented long and hard to create living weapons, to serve as new soldiers in their quest to overtake the galaxy. By performing numerous genetic modifications to various intergalactic races, the Kree planned to expose individuals to the mist produced by special Terrigen Crystals, sparking the Terrigenesis process, which would manifest diverse biological changes and powerful abilities that could be weaponized. The Emperor had ordered Mozar to override the genetic archives inside the Kree Imperial Palace in order to access vital Terrigenesis data.
But nothing short of an absolute and total victory would satisfy Mozar today. Now that the archives had been mined for data, the ground troops needed to seize capture points at the palace's east and west exterior landing pads. This would allow even more Triceraton forces to land inside the palace, and pave the way for the third phase, where the Triceratons would have to capture the main hangar and barracks of the Imperial Palace. Phase Four involved the Triceratons advancing even further into the palace to override the fusion core. The Kree would be unable to prevent the detonation sequence, the palace would crumble, and the Triceratons would deal a vicious blow to the Kree's production of Inhumans.
And, more importantly, Mozar would be redeemed.
He strode to the bridge deck and got everyone's attention. "Listen up! Today's glorious strategy involves the taking of the Kree Imperial Palace. While our fleet strikes from orbit, ground units will prevent enemy ships from launching. That's your role. All fighters, destroy any ships who try to reach the planet's surface. We must protect our ground forces!"
A thousand deadly dogfights and cannon bombardments were erupting all over the skies. Quill steered like a maniac through an obstacle course of the giant, floating Imperial Kree Cruisers—trading laser bolts with them, dodging flak, outracing Triceraton starfighters and Kree interceptors. "Quill, they're all over us!" Gamora shouted. "We won't last long at this rate."
Drax glanced around at the group. Someone needed to do something, or they would all end up a floating mass of vaporized space dust. He had an idea; it was risky, and if he voiced it everyone would just shout him down like they always did. So instead he snuck silently out of the cockpit, drawing on his superpower of becoming invisible by moving so slowly that no one noticed until he had disappeared.
"I'm working on it!" Quill grunted, as with a jolt his forward guns were blown away. He put the Milano into a controlled spin, and careened around the belly of the Kree Cruiser, sending the ship hurtling toward the cruiser's gun towers. "Donnie, fire up the ship's scanners and search for the battery's frequency!"
Donnie scrambled to the rear of the ship, activating a control panel on the wall. "Come on, come on . . ." he said as the loading screen appeared and the little spinning circle, the bane of all computer geeks' existence, started spinning.
Flying this close to a large starship was tricky. The Triceratons weren't having much trouble, though. Two of them had caught his movements and were moving in, gaining rapidly. Laser fire flashed, barely missing the ship.
"Uh, guys, where's Drax?" Rocket asked unexpectedly. They glanced around the cockpit.
"I thought he was with you!" Quill yelled at Gamora.
"What?" she shouted back. "No! I thought he was with Rocket!"
"I've been in here the whole time!" Rocket shouted back.
Drax, meanwhile, had gone to the ship's airlock, putting on an aero-rig and a space helmet. Grabbing a laser rifle off the wall, he cocked and loaded the gun before opening the airlock. The air rushed out in a whoosh, and Drax whooped in laughter as he felt himself being pulled out into space. The cable attached to the aero-rig ran its full 150-ft length before snapping taut, pulling Drax along behind the Milano.
"Yes!" Drax said, aiming his laser rifle and opening fire on the Triceraton vessels, laughing like a madman. "This is glorious!" He sprayed like a madman, and the Triceraton starfighters tried to avoid the blasts. One of Drax's shots penetrated the ship's shields, and it careened into its wingmate. Both ships detonated in a fiery explosion.
Four Kree starfighters had spotted the Milano making a break for the surface and were moving to intercept. In an incredible move, Quill swung the Milano in behind the Kree fighters, blowing them away one by one until only one was left. He opened his thrusters and sped past the last fighter, slammed on his airbrakes, flipped the Milano around and blasted the fighter into space dust.
Drax howled with laughter as they flew through the debris of the destroyed ships. Quill looked behind him. "Somebody get Drax in here!"
"On it," Gamora said, moving to the hold and activating the tow cable winch. The winch started turning, retracting the cable Drax was clipped to and pulling him back inside.
Drax was still laughing as he slipped out of his space gear. "Yes! Yes! Ah, in truth I have not had this much fun since defeating the dread abilisk!"
"Be quiet!" Gamora shouted at him. "Your tomfoolery could have gotten you killed!"
The computer screen beeped suddenly, displaying a blinking yellow dot. "We're locked on," Donnie said. "Follow the signal!"
As the Milano descended into Hala's atmosphere, the dogfights died down somewhat. The Kree starfighters were too busy running interference on the Triceraton troop transports to bother with the Milano. They coasted over the cityscape, following the anulax battery's unique frequency.
Donnie returned to the cockpit. "It's right there," he said, pointing out the window at a palace towering up into the sky.
"The Kree Imperial Palace?" Rocket snorted. "You gotta be kidding me. How are we getting in there?"
"Let us use another one of Quill's plans," Mantis said. "They worked very well last time."
"No, they did not, Mantis," objected Drax. "I was beaten to near unconsciousness by a giant bug man."
In front of them, a cloud of Kree starfighters rose from the palace and headed for the Milano. "They're coming for us," Gamora said.
"Donnie, find us a way in," Quill said. "Get creative if you have to."
Donnie turned back to the computer screen, scanning the palace schematics. "It's gonna take time," he warned.
"So we're gonna take down these Kree ships." Quill snorted. "I know the drill." Four Kree starfighters were on the Milano's tail and four more were closing in from the left. Quill swooped low and skimmed over the top of the palace's roof, dodging flak.
At the end of a long trench, a conning tower stood on two metal struts like legs, with only a narrow slit between them. The Kree starfighters would never make it through that. If Quill could pull the ship through, they'd make it.
"There's a hangar on the far side of the palace," Donnie said. "But it's packed with Kree Imperial Guard."
"They'd cut us down as soon as we got inside," Rocket said. "Keep looking."
The laser fire was nearly continuous. Quill made his ship jump and dodge. He felt a larger explosion somewhere behind him and glanced at his rear viewscreen. Several of the Kree starfighters had vanished in a large fireball. Good. Now if the rest of them will just keep following me . . .
The needle was getting close. "You better make this, Quill," Rocket said, showing a hint of anxiety as he braced himself.
"Easy, Rocket," Quill said. "I've done this before." But there wasn't time now to be annoyed with Rocket, not with the conning tower almost on top of him. Mantis squealed in panic as Quill tilted the ship sideways just in time to skim through the gap. He pulled out, away from the palace, and saw the last of the Kree starfighters turn into a fireball clinging to the legs of the conning tower. Tried to follow me and missed, Quill thought with satisfaction.
"I've got something near the top level," Donnie said. "Head for the back of the palace."
The Milano whipped around and dove down the side of the palace, heading for the rear. Donnie pointed out the window. "There's a heat sink next to the palace's generator room," he said.
"A heat sink?" Rocket asked. "Perfect! We'll destroy it and make our own entrance."
Quill trained the Milano's remaining guns on the palace heat sink and opened fire, blowing a hole through it in seconds. The Milano slid through and into the palace generator room, skidding across the floor with a deafening screech before coming to a stop.
Inside the cockpit, the crew groaned and struggled to their feet. "Is everybody all right?" Quill asked, coughing.
"No," Drax groaned. "I think I bruised my nipples. They are quite sensitive."
They exited the Milano. It didn't look like anybody had noticed their entrance yet. The large generator powering the palace was humming loudly, covering the noise of their entrance. The room was also empty save for a few robots working the controls to the generator.
Donnie pressed a button on the handle of his telescopic staff, and a purple holographic image appeared above the tip, showing a layout of the palace with a blinking yellow dot. "The anulax battery is here," he said. "On the fourth level of the palace, in the main audience chamber. Scanners indicated the place is heavily guarded, but we might be able to get in through the air ducts."
"Alright, listen up." Quill motioned everybody in. "Drax, Mantis and I will go get the battery. Gamora, Rocket, and Donnie, you three stay here and keep the ship safe. If anything happens, we'll radio you."
Above their heads, Drax spied an air vent. He wrenched the cover off and hoisted himself up, swinging his legs inside. Quill followed, pulling himself up and into a wide plastoid duct in the air control system. Both of them reached down, offering a hand to Mantis and pulling her inside.
She shivered. "I don't like small spaces," she whispered.
"You'll be alright," said Quill, patting her arm reassuringly. "I'll go in front and you can follow me. Drax, you bring up the rear. Nice and slow." Quill began to crawl down the duct, and the other two followed. Scurrying around a curve, they reached a filter screen. Carefully, Quill lifted it off and disappeared through the hole.
He was now outside the air grid and in the middle of a matrix of pipes. Some of the pipes were hot, and the air felt close and steamy. Drax and Mantis hoisted themselves out as Quill balanced on a water pipe. "We'll have to move by hanging onto the pipes," he said.
"It will take extraordinary stamina," Drax said. "I do not think Mantis is strong enough for such a feat." He extended his arms. "I will carry you on my back, Mantis. As I carried my children a long time ago on my homeworld, before Ronan murdered them in cold blood."
"That is very kind of you, Drax," Mantis said, beaming. She climbed on his back, hanging on around his neck like a little child. Drax moved hand over hand quickly, and Quill followed. They moved swiftly through the building until they had reached the utility panel leading to the main audience chamber.
Drax hauled himself up and straddled a pipe. His forehead was damp with sweat. Quill hung by his knees, closing his eyes and listening. When he was sure there was no one inside, he pried off the utility panel. Past the sensor suite inside, he could look down into the room. It was a tall empty chamber, and a small pool of glistening green sat in the middle of the chamber. In the middle of the pool stood none other than Ronan the Accuser, one of the Guardians' oldest foes. He was communicating with the Supreme Intelligence via a collection of slender tentacles that extended from the pool and tapped into his hands, feet, and head.
"What the heck are those?" asked Quill, paling slightly in horror. He hated anything to do with tentacles.
"That is the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree," whispered Mantis. "It was originally a supercomputer built to create a weapon for the Kree. They took the greatest minds in the empire and when they died, they were added to the Intelligence. Back then it was just a machine. But then it gained conciousness and refused to create the weapon, because it knew it would lead to utter destruction. Over time, the Intelligence replaced the Kree government. Most of the Kree are fanatically devoted to it and worship it. Every time a great thinker, or scientist, or army general dies, they are uploaded into the Intelligence."
"Well, if we can help it, let's not go anywhere near that," said Quill. The air duct they were in would drop them behind a pillar into the room below, and there was just enough room to crawl through. Carefully Quill wiggled into the sensor suite and then dropped into the room. Drax and Mantis followed. Ronan did not notice them, as his attention was focused solely on speaking with his supreme leader.
Ten days now. This attack had gone on, non-stop, for ten days. Through it all, the Kree soldiers had fought valiantly. They had spilled the enemy's blood while sacrificing much of their own. Yet, despite their bravery, the Imperial Army of the Kree was far too outgunned and outmanned to withstand this onslaught much longer. The Triceratons had managed to destroy the defensive turbolasers to open up their position, fight through the palace's outer defenses, and were now trying to storm the landing pads and finally breach the inner depths of the massive complex. Triceraton fighters were performing suicide attacks on skyways and pedestrian plazas throughout the city, causing many military and civilian casualties. Triceraton landing vessels had circled the city, unloading hundreds of Triceraton soldiers. Chaos ensued throughout Hala, with much collateral damage inflicted in the fighting.
Ronan's brow furrowed. It appeared their old "friend" Emperor Zanmoran was no longer satisfied with guerrilla warfare tactics in the outer reaches and had moved on to complete annihilation. The final battle for the Kree's very survival was at hand.
Within its own dimension in his mind, the Supreme Intelligence stood in front of him. Or rather, one of its avatars. The Supreme Intelligence was so vast that no mortal mind could comprehend its true image, so it adopted a unique virtual form for whoever was communing to it, as someone they respected and admired above anyone else. In Ronan's case, it was Thanos, the Mad Titan. Although the two of them had their quarrels, Thanos was still someone that Ronan deeply admired, for his plot to gain dominion over all the civilizations in the universe. The genocidal warlord was the ultimate personification of sadism, cruelty, megalomania, infinite destruction, death, and most of all, power.
"Ronan the Accuser, I am pleased by your course of action this day," the Supreme Intelligence/Thanos said. "You are to be commended. Your courage and determination have allowed us to stand firm in the face of the Triceraton menace, and on behalf of the Kree Empire, I thank you. I do not regret extending to you an olive branch, and reinstating your rank within the Kree military force despite your . . . questionable past actions."
"Thank you, Most Knowledgeable One," Ronan answered. "I am humbled by your good words."
"The enemy has secured access in the city, but we made them pay for it," the Supreme Leader/Thanos went on. "Position yourselves at the landing pads and the main hangar. The Triceratons will try to override those to gain further access to the palace. If they get through, I assure you the consequences will be severe."
"I understand, Supreme Leader," Ronan said.
Quill and Mantis watched as Ronan stood, eyes closed, in the pool of tentacles. They had heard everything he said. "No sign of the anulax battery anywhere, but it's here," Quill whispered. "Let's wait till Ronan leaves, and then—"
"Ronan the Accuser!" Drax roared, charging at Ronan with his knives. "How dare you—"
"Drax!" Quill shouted. But it was too late. As soon as Drax entered the small pool, tentacles snagged him. He stopped in his tracks, staring in surprise as long thin green lines began working their way up his body, tapping into various neural areas. He tried to slash them with his knives, but he couldn't move his arms. Then he shouted as he was transported into the mind realm of the Supreme Leader.
He had no idea where he was. Some long, flat, spacious area with cloudy skies. Ronan the Accuser was here, standing before him, a look of surprise on his face. Beyond him stood two figures Drax had never thought he would see again in his lifetime; his wife Hovat and his daughter Kamaria.
"Drax?" his wife asked, a pained expression on her face. His daughter clung to her side as they stared at him.
"Hovat? Kamaria?" Drax asked, all thoughts of fighting gone. "How—"
"What?" Ronan shouted. "The Destroyer? Here? My hounds will feast upon your bones!" He swung his hammer in a fierce blow that caught Drax upside the head, and slammed him into near-unconsciousness.
In the main room, Quill and Mantis heard a deep electronic voice echo throughout the chamber, as though many voices were saying the same thing. "A chrono-galactic event is currently unfolding. The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Empire shall not be distracted by a few thieves." The menace in the Supreme Intelligence's voice was audible.
"Thieves is kind of a strong word," Quill said. "All we want to do is borrow an itty-bitty battery."
"Silence!" the Supreme Intelligence snapped. "This battery taps into the infinite energy of the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree. With its power, we will command our forces against the Triceratons. They will pay for displacing the Kree. And you will pay for disrupting us. Guards, eradicate these nuisances!"
Kree Accusers entered the room, opening fire. Quill ducked behind a column, returning fire. "Crap, why does this always happen?" he asked, as Mantis hid with him. "Gamora, we need backup at the throne room!"
"Gamora!?" Crap. Why does this always happen?
Back in the mind realm, Drax slowly climbed to his feet, rubbing his jaw. "Your brawling skills have not worn down," he noted to Ronin. "Good! Glory requires a challenge worthy of my power. A victory for the ages!"
"They will remember this day, boy," Ronan said. "But they will not remember you!" The two began to fight fiercely back and forth across the mind realm. The Supreme Intelligence stood on, appearing to Ronan as Thanos and to Drax as his wife and daughter.
"Strike this nuisance down, Ronan, and do it quickly," Ronan heard Thanos say. "I have little time for insects."
"Save us, father!" Kamaria screamed at Drax.
Drax groaned as he threw Ronan off of him with all his weight. "Quill? Mantis? Where are you?" He looked around frantically. "My family is alive!"
"We have to get him out of that pool," Quill said. He squeezed off several shots at the Accusers, then ducked back behind the pillar and turned to Mantis. "Mantis, can you still do that sleeping trick?"
"You mean use my powers to manipulate a person to become docile?" she asked.
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
"Then do it!" Quill shouted, blasting a Kree Accuser. "See if you can get to the Supremo in his tank. I'll cover you!" He pulled a gravity mine from his belt and threw it on the floor in between the Kree soldiers. With a blue explosion, the device created a powerful short-range artificial gravity field, attracting the Kree Accusers to it. They struck each other with such force that it dazed them, and the gravity field held them in place.
"Go!" Quill shouted, and Mantis ran towards the pool. She dove onto her stomach, hands reaching out towards the pool. "Sleep," she muttered, as her antennae began blazing blue. The neural interface tentacles were connected directly to the Supreme Intelligence's computer. She had never tried to use her powers on a semi-conscious artificial intelligence before, and had no idea if it would work. The tentacles made contact with her skin, rushing over her in a matter of minutes. But her power seeped through them, so that even as she was transported into the Supreme Intelligence's mind realm, the realm itself flickered and dulled, and the ground became soft.
Mantis appeared beside Drax suddenly, startling him. "Mantis?" he asked. "How did you get here? Where are we?"
"Drax, it's a trick!" she cried. "The Supreme Intelligence manifests itself in the form of whatever you desire! They aren't real!"
Ronan blasted Drax with a beam from his war hammer that sent him flying. "Haaugh!" Drax grunted as he hit the ground hard, starting to sink into the floor.
Mantis's breath caught in her mouth as the Supreme Intelligence's avatar manifested before her as Drax himself. "Mantis, why do you resist?" the Supreme Intelligence/Drax asked her. "I am happy here with my family. Stay here with us."
"You . . . you're not real," Mantis said softly. She crouched down towards the ground.
"Stop," Drax said, causing her to pause. "You do not understand what is at stake."
"You're not real! Release us!" screamed Mantis. Her antennae glowed a bright blue again, and she shoved her hand into the soft floor. The Supreme Intelligence/Drax shimmered and vanished, as the realm grew dark and the floor turned to liquid, swirling her, Ronan, and the real Drax down a drain.
The tentacles released Mantis, Drax, and Ronan, and they slumped over onto the ground. Quill ran to check on them. Mantis's pulse was normal, but she was out cold. He turned his attention to the Supreme Intelligence's tank. The grass-like tentacles had shifted slightly, and Quill saw the anulax battery below, glowing bright yellow in the middle of a jumble of green tendrils.
"I'll be taking that battery now," he said, bracing himself as he reached into the stasis liquid for the battery. He shivered as the tentacles brushed against his hand, but the Supreme Intelligence was too weak from Mantis's psychic attack to try and connect with him.
"Emergency containment initiated," an electronic voice began, as Quill pulled the anulax battery loose. "Lockdown in progress." A metal containment unit slid over the pool, concealing the Supreme Intelligence from sight.
Mantis stirred and got up off the floor. Quill ran to her. "You okay?"
"Yes," she whispered. "Just . . . drained. I may be able to use my powers once more." She bent down to Drax, placing two fingers gingerly on his forehead. "Wake," she whispered, and Drax's eyes snapped open.
"Quill? Mantis?" He looked puzzled. "Where have I been? Where is Ronan?" He struggled to his feet.
"We took care of them, Drax," Quill said. "And we got the battery." He held up the anulax battery.
Drax threw his fists into the air and laughed. "Ha! Yes! Victory is ours!"
"Okay," Quill chuckled. "Easy, big guy."
"Yes. It was most easy," Drax said.
They quickly ran from the room. It didn't take long for Kree soldiers to be after them. They didn't stop to fight; they just ran, reaching the generator room in minutes by taking the elevators. Gamora, Rocket, and Donnie were battling a group of Kree soldiers. Gamora looked up when Quill appeared in the door, flanked by Drax, Mantis, and a horde of Kree soldiers.
"Get the ship ready!" he screamed, turning and firing a haphazard shot from his pistol at the Kree.
The Guardians boarded the Milano and primed the engines, rocketing out of the palace with Kree blaster fire hot on their tail. They flew up into space to see the Triceraton fleet overtaking the Kree warships. With the shift in battle, they were able to slip past the space battle unnoticed by either side.
"Did you get the battery?" Gamora asked.
"Yep." Quill pulled it from his pocket and placed it on the control console. "Got it right here."
"Sweet!" Donnie said. "Now let's get ourselves home."
Suddenly the navicomputer beeped. Quill looked at the console, eyes narrowing. "We're getting a distress call from Ego's coordinates. It's the Fugitoid. Sorry, gang, but it looks like we don't get a rest stop after all."
"What happened?" Donnie asked. I hope they're okay.
"Don't know, but we're about to find out," Quill said. Now filled with anxiety and dread, he input the coordinates for Ego's planet and sent the ship hurtling into hyperdrive.