"Dear Peter,

Here's a piece of advice that I should give you. The world can be a very dangerous place. Where you'll find a harmless rabbit, you can also find a Grimm unlike any that you've seen before. Danger can come from anywhere and you must be ready for when it does."

Peter Quill and the others didn't get too far from Lil Miss Malachite's hideout. The Atlas guards made sure of that. The five of them sneaked through the alleyways of the village trying to slip through. Rocket took a minute to check out the view from the rooftops. When he came back down, he had distressing news.

"We're trapped."

"For real?" Peter asked.

"You heard me. Every possible exit of this town has Atlas security posted. They're clearly keeping an eye out for us."

"This is insane." Gamora said. "I've heard the commanding officer of Argus was stubborn, but I didn't think she'd go this far. Why is she so obsessed with us?"

Quill had a nervous expression on his face looking at his Walkman that had his data chip inside. He coughed to clear his throat. "Uh, who knows? Anyway, got any ideas?"

"Yeah." Rocket said. "I also saw an airship over at the nearest clearing. A couple of Atlesian guards there, but nothing we can't handle."

"I think of Atlesian guards as paper people." Drax said.

"Nice." Quill said. "All right then. I guess we're adding hijacking a military vehicle to our criminal records."

The gang continued its semi-stealthy trek through the village surprisingly without getting caught. They stopped at the edge of town where they came across the airship with two guards positioned just outside of it. The gang looked away to converse.

"So what's the plan?" Quill asked.

"Can we not just simply knock them out?" Drax asked. "It would grant us the use of their ship."

"Ain't gonna happen." Rocket said. "Those guards have their radios on. These are smart humies. The second we knock them out, the rest of the officers in town will hear it on be onto us."

"So our only option is to sneak in from the other side." Gamora said.

"Exactly." Rocket said. "Now, we just need to distract the guards there so they won't catch us before we try to get off the ground."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Gamora asked.

"Well, back at the Argus base, I heard some of the guards say how attractive you are, so maybe you can work something out with that."

"You've got to be kidding."

"No, I really heard they find you attractive. Any method will work, but whatever you do, to not knock them out."

"OOF!"

The guards by the airship grunted as soon as they were hit over their heads. Everyone looked over and saw Groot was already standing over with his fist balled up.

"Or we can just knock them out and then rush the escape plan!" Rocket exclaimed.

"Let's go!" Quill ordered.

The gang quickly hurried over and entered the airship. Peter was about to sit in the pilot's seat, but Rocket beat him to it.

"Hey, furball, how come you're flying? I'm trained! And I have longer legs!"

"But can you use your opposable thumbs?" Rocket asked.

Of course, Peter gripped Rocket and tossed him in the other seat. Meanwhile, Gamora, Drax, and Groot stood at the hanger side. Thankfully, they managed to get the bird into the air before the guards showed up. They tried to fire at them, but Groot blocked their bullets with his tree-trunk arm. They eventually flew out east too far for them to fire. They were now flying through the night sky.

"Whoo! We're sailing free tonight!" Quill said. "Is that power cell secured?"

"Safe and sound." Gamora said holding up the container.

"Good. After that chaotic game of hot potato earlier, we gotta be more careful." Rocket said.

"I saw no such potato, especially under any matter of heat." Drax said.

"It's an expression, you nitwit!" Rocket said. "Let's just focus on keeping that cell stable. If it cracks, we're all going to go kablooey!"

"I am Groot?"

"Yes, it'll be worse if we break it." Rocket groaned. "Next time, just assume that. Don't worry though. In this ship, we'll make it to Mountain Glenn within three hours. We won't have to worry about it for long."

"So we'll just have to bring this to Merlot, let Lionheart know where he is, and we're free people." Quill said. "Easy peasy."

"Never assume that." Gamora said. "Remember, Cordovin is out for us and she's not exactly bound by Anima law."

"Don't worry about her." Rocket said. "Eventually, she'll forget all about us before you say… SWEET BUTTERMILK!"

"Who says that?" Drax asked.

"NOT THAT! LOOK!" Rocket pointed at the front console screen with an image of the jet they were in. There was a pointed blip appearing on the radar behind the ship and closing in.

Gamora widened her eyes and stuck her head out side behind the ship. She squinted her eyes to get a better look at the missile that was soaring toward them.

"EVERYONE, WE HAVE TO JUMP NOW!" Gamora called out before leaping out of the jet.

"CRAZY BROAD!" Rocket yelled out as she jumped on Groot. "GET ME DOWN!"

"I AM GROOOOOOOT!" the tree man declared as he jumped out. Drax laughed hysterically in excitement as he leaped out too.

"Oh, come on! We just got this!" Quill whined. He sighed before putting his helmet on. He exited the pilot's seat and turned on his rockets on his ankles. He dropped out just a second before the missile made contact with the ship and blew it to pieces. As he flew, his Walkman played music as he descended.

"I see trees of green

Red roses too

I see them bloom

For me and you

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world"

Quill shot himself downward landing on the ground along with Drax, Rocket, Groot, and Gamora.

"Now, that's a landing strategy." Quill said just as debris was starting to scatter.

"What was that?" Rocket asked. "Where did that missile come from?"

"I am Groot." Groot pointed at the smoke trail the missile left behind.

"You're right. That thing came from the village's direction." Rocket said. "You don't think Cordo's men tried to blow us up, do you?"

Gamora glanced at the smoke trail's origin location and winced her eyes. "No. Something's not right."

"Well, whatever it is, we better get going." Rocket said. "Without that ship, we'll have to hoof it to Mountain Glenn. And that's gonna be for a few hours."

"Perhaps that's for the best." Gamora said. "Let's…"

"Wait, stop." Quill said making everybody stay in place. "We can't go. We need to make camp."

"How come?" Drax asked.

"If we keep walking in the dark, we'll probably run into some nasty Grimm." Quill said. "That's one of the basic survival tips for the Branwen Tribe."

"Quill, we don't have any time to lose." Gamora said. "We're being chased and you want to stay?"

"We can handle those grunts." Quill said. "We've got a green ninja girl, a furry know-it-all, a living tree, a psycho, and me, your super-awesome leader."

"I am Groot?"

"You're the living tree, sap-for-brains." Rocket said. "That goes without saying!"

"This isn't a joke!" Gamora cried out.

"Chill." Quill said. "What's gotten into you?"

Gamora stayed silent for a second before responding. "It's nothing. Fine, we'll make camp."

As night fell, everyone was fast asleep. Well, everyone but one. Gamora laid down, but still had her eyes open and her hand gripped on her sword handle. A twig snap in the distance shot her eyes wide open. She put on a suspicious glare into the forest in the distance and slowly sneaked out of her blanket. She slowly crept away from the campsite not knowing that it was then that Peter Quill woke up. He saw Gamora tip-toeing away and decided to follow her. He shook Rocket, Drax, and Groot awake and they began to walk Gamora's way.

Once Gamora made it across an aisle of bushes, she entered a large, circular clearing. Her glaring eyes shifted left and right before she held out her sword. She kept spinning around which made Quill nervous.

"I know you're there! Why don't you show yourself right now so we can settle this?"

"Damn it." Quill whispered. "How did she know?"

"Maybe she smelled your breath." Rocket guessed.

"True. Quill's breath can be noticed even from this distance." Drax said.

"Dude." Quill said taking offense. "Anyway, should we confront her?"

"I am Groot."

"Good point." Rocket said. "We send Quill out first in case she is in a stabby mood."

Quill wanted to protest, but he didn't get the chance to. A woman's yell echoed as a girl around Gamora's age jumped from the treetops. She swung a sword of her own which clashed with Gamora's. This second woman landed in front of her pressing her blade on Gamora's. The boys took notice not just on her blue skin, but the fact that some of her own body is mechanical.

"Who's that?" Quill asked.

"Don't ask me." Rocket said.

"Nebula." Gamora growled.

"I think her name is Nebula." Drax said.

Gamora broke the stalemate and stepped away from her attacker. "You really came all this way and fired that missile at us just to find me? Guess Marcus really does want me back."

"This isn't about him." Nebula snarled with a hateful tone. "This is between me and you. You hear me? Tonight, I kill you, sister."

Quill, Rocket, Drax, and Groot both shared the same expression of shock and surprise. They asked the same question one after the other.

"Sister?"

"Sister?"

"Sister?"

"I am Groot?"

Author's Note: Sorry this took a while. I had a bit of a technical issue, but I managed to recover. Anyway, hope you liked this one. Any and all comments are welcome.