Three voices echoed through the mind of each being in the room. The voices spoke in unison. "He is not one of us," the voices declared.

Sif and the other Asgardians looked to each other, confused by what had just occurred. "One of us?" asked Sif.

Beckett cut off Sif's question. "So Loki is not a carrier?"

"No," the two voices insisted, seemingly insulted by the inference. "The one you speak of wishes to corrupt the stone to his own ends. He must not be allowed to continue."

"Yeah, no kidding," said Trip.

A pained groan from Odin tore Thor's attention away from the carriers' declaration. "Master Sìfāng?" he asked Castle.

The two Asgardians disappeared, allowing the rest of the group to focus all of its attention on their present situation. "Am I right in saying that there are three of you now?" asked Beckett.

"Yes," the voices replied.

"That means Henry's got his stone," said Ryan.

"So where are they?" asked Esposito. "Are they still on Xandar?"

#

Alexis thought she had felt power before. The day her gift emerged, she felt like the power of all the earth was coursing through her veins. And she had felt that power a handful of times since then. It was the most amazing, euphoric, intense and profound thing that she had ever experienced...

Until the moment the stone's light surrounded her.

She knew in her heart that the light had another purpose; it was a purpose that was confirmed as the purple light radiated out from the spot where it hit the sky. Alexis found herself able to piggyback onto that radiating light, seeing all of sky and space as she went. Okay, thought Alexis, taking what she saw seeing purely on faith, so which ones do I shoot? Direction proved the solution to her problem: she watched the small ships as they launched from the orbiting 'mother' ships and hurl themselves fruitlessly toward the shield...only to explode at the outer edge of the atmosphere. She channeled the power down to the enemy ships that had escaped the shield's creation.

They exploded like they had crashed into the great shield itself.

Satisfied, Alexis made a second 'pass' around the planet once the shield was fully protecting Xandar, taking out the surviving fighters on the 'space side' of the shield. She had just decided to go after the two remaining warships when a very familiar voice pierced through her intensely scattered focus. "City's clear," Steve told her. "And the Xandarians should be able to pick off any hidden stragglers...as long as there won't be any new arrivals?"

"There won't be," Alexis declared. She returned to her physical body, disappeared from inside the stone's light tube and reappeared just as the light disappeared behind her, leaving only the newly lavender sky in its wake. "The fighters have all either crashed or been destroyed, and the two warships were pulling out of orbit when you pulled me back."

"Leaving only the purple sky behind as a souvenir," added Steve.

"So it would seem," Alexis agreed. She looked up at the sky, marveling both at the sky's unique color and the process that created it. "Are the guys planning on leaving the shield behind after we leave?"

Steve smiled, pulling Alexis into an embrace before stealing a quick, passionate kiss. "Why don't we pop downstairs and find out?"

#

Henry, Ward and Ryan all opened their eyes simultaneously. "Nice work, guys," Ward complimented the other two men.

"I agree," added Denarian Dey.

The three men turned to see Rael and Dey approaching them with wide smiles. Ryan found his smile widening as Rael's gratefulness, respect and awe hit him like a wave of unbridled joy. "I cannot thank you enough for your assistance, Guardians," Rael declared. "You will truly be remembered as the heroes of this day."

"The warships?" asked Ryan.

"Leaving," Alexis replied.

The group turned to include Cap and Alexis in their conversation. "How'd it go up there?" asked Ryan.

"The fighters have been taken care of on both sides of the shield," announced Alexis. "And I watched the two remaining warships pull out of orbit."

"The Kree are in full retreat," Cap added. "Whatever they were planning, they're going to have to try it again some other day."

"I have no doubt that they will," agreed Rael. Her face fell with the shift from past victories to her planet's uncertain future.

Ryan picked up on the ruler's emotional shift as soon as it happened. "The shield is still in place," Ryan assured her. "If you think it will help we can leave it in place while you re-build your planetary defenses...?"

Rael's relief was palpable. "Thank you," she told Ryan.

"Anyone hear from Quill and his crew yet?" asked Esposito.

"We landed two hours ago," Quill replied. "What took you guys so long?"

The group took the teasing in stride as Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Groot and Drax joined them. "All present and accounted for?" asked Cap. Quill nodded.

Rael found Quill's patience surprising. "I assumed Mister Quill and his crew would have stolen whatever ship we gave him," she commented to Dey, "if only to pick up his own ship on Asgard."

Dey's gaze remained focused on the Terrans. "He said he *needed* to get back to Earth," Dey told his Nova Prime, "something about needing to keep the stones away from Thanos."

Rael raised an eyebrow in wary recognition of the name. "The Xandarian people have spent some time in Thanos' target sights," she told the group. "It is hardly a pleasant place to be, even when our defenses were at full strength."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Ward declared.

"I no longer have any doubt of that," agreed Rael. "But my concern now is for Terra. If you Guardians had not come along when you did we would not have survived this day. And three Kree warships are nothing compared to the full force of Thanos' armies. Do you really believe that this power of this stone will be enough to protect your planet from such an attack?" Henry opened his eyes, fixing his attentions on Rael. The Nova Prime gasped, startled both by the intensity of Henry's gaze and the violet glow of his eyes. "My word..." she whispered.

Henry's voice took on an otherworldly tone, sounding less like one man and more like a chorus of three voices in unison. "We will protect what belongs to us," he declared.

The rest of the room was staring back at Henry, startled and confused by his display. "We?" asked Steve.

"We will protect what belongs to us," Henry repeated.

Rael sighed, trying and failing to come up with an explanation for what was unfolding in front of her. Ss she settled on ignoring it. "Know this, Guardians," she declared. "Terra has an ally in Xandar. We will assist in the protection of your planet in any way that we can."

Esposito seized upon the opportunity. "May I meet with some of your generals and scientists?" he asked Rael. "Get some ideas as to how we can properly protect Ear...Terra."

"Of course," Rael agreed.

"I'll pick you up in a few hours, then?" asked Alexis. "After I bring everyone else back to Earth?"

Esposito accepted the young wizard's embrace. "You better," he teased. "I'd hate to have to absorb all this new information for nothing."

Rael jumped when the group of beings in front of her disappeared in the blink of an eye. After taking a moment to regain her composure, though, the leader turned to Esposito. "Well then, Guardian...shall we begin?"

#

Alexis arrived at the warehouse to find all eyes fixed on her. "Honey?" asked Castle. "Where's Master Xiānzhī?"

"Still on Xandar," Alexis replied. A dozen eyebrows raised in surprise all at once. "It was his idea!" she exclaimed defensively.

"What happened?" asked Beckett.

Steve and Alexis shared a glance of silent communication. "We ran into some...trouble," Steve explained.

"Clearly," Castle agreed. He waved his hand in Ward's direction. "Must have been more than just 'trouble' if you needed to bring in a shield."

Ward raised his hands in a defensive posture. "The idea was Doctor Foster's, not ours..."

"And the shield was *very* necessary," insisted Ryan.

The tone of Ryan's voice caught Coulson's attention. "*How* necessary?"

"The planetary shield worked," Ward declared.

The announcement turned the room's attention to Henry...and the obvious change in his eye color. "Clearly you've gotten your stone, Doc," said Beckett.

"Are *you* okay?" asked Castle.

Henry nodded, so the group turned their attention back to Ward. "You practiced a planet-wide shield on Xandar?" asked Beckett.

Ryan nodded. "We had no choice. The Kree attacked shortly after we arrived on the planet."

Beckett's eyes went wide. "But Master Xiānzhī said that the stone wasn't in any danger..."

Ward could only shrug. "Doctor Foster warned me about the attack seconds before sending me to Xandar. We had maybe ten minutes between my arrival and when the Kree warships arrived."

"And Xandar had no defenses of its own?" asked Sif.

Quill shook his head. "A Kree general named Ronan got too big for his britches and decided to try and use the power stone to wipe out Xandar."

"He *almost* succeed," agreed Gamora.

"Which is why Ward's gift was necessary," said Castle. He turned to the man in question. "You were able to drive back this Kree attack?" Ward nodded.

"So why did Master Xiānzhī decide to stay behind?" asked Coulson.

Esposito suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, looking both stunned and furious. "Master Xiānzhī?" exclaimed Couldon.

"How did you get back?" asked Alexis.

Esposito shook his head, forcing himself to shake off the disorientation and answer the question he had just been asked. "Sorry...I guess...Doctor Foster must have brought me home..."

"Because of something you learned on Xandar?" asked Ward.

Esposito nodded. "You know how we thought Loki, the Kree and Thanos were all, separately looking for the infinity stones?" As the rest of the group nodded, Esposito shook his head. "We were wrong. Loki is working with the Kree. The Kree are working for Thanos."

"What?!" exclaimed Fallon. "Are you sure about this?"

Esposito nodded, then turned to Quill and Gamora. "Are you familiar with a relic called the Hand of the Supreme Being?"

Gamora acknowledged Esposito in curt agreement, while Quill's eyes went wide. "I have heard of it, but only in legends. You think the hand's *real*?"

Esposito nodded again. "It was the carrier vehicle for the mind stone."

Most of the group put the pieces together immediately. "The 'scepter' was Kree," said Beckett.

"Thanos acquired it," added Espoosito. "He then passed it on to the Chitauri..."

"Who passed it on to Loki," Fallon completed the thought with a groan.

Drax scanned the room, confused as to why this name seemed to send almost every being in the room into varying degrees of rage. "Who is this...Loki?" he asked.

"The adopted son of my lord Odin," Fandral replied, his voice shaking with barely controlled rage.

"He is a traitor," insisted Sif. "He colluded with the Chitauri to try and conquer this planet. He has attempted to take the life of my Lord more than once. And now you are saying that he is in league with those who nearly laid waste to my world?" When Esposito nodded, Sif nearly started growling with barely contained rage. "That fool will not survive our next encounter. I swear it by every God in the heavens..."

"As they say on this planet...get in line."

The group turned to see Thor marching into the room like a god on a mission. "Hey Thor," asked Castle, "how's your dad?"

"Mistress Yīzhī is working on him now," Thor replied. "She says he will fully recover."

"You heard what I told them?" asked Esposito.

Thor nodded. "We need to find the true carrier for the Aether."

Esposito shook his head as one of Jane's memories came to the front of his mind. "Won't the Aether just kill him if he keeps hold of it too long? Can't we just...wait him out?"

"Whoa, whoa," Quill interrupted them. "What is this Ether stuff you're talking about?"

"It's the red infinity stone," explained Castle. "Sometime in the very ancient past someone tried to destroy the red stone and failed. In its place we now have the energy force that we encountered on the moon."

Gamora's eyes went wide. "You are saying that this Loki has full control over a stone that possesses the same level of power as the stone that almost destroyed Xandar?" When the Guardians all nodded, Gamora's emotions exploded into a mix of fear, panic and pure rage in less than a second. "We cannot let him continue to have control over such power..."

"Aye," Thor agreed.

Ward turned to Quill. "When the other carriers led us to their stones, their minds would become consumed by a set of coordinates..."

Ryan turned to Quill. "You're a *carrier*?!"

"That's what Doctor Foster called him," Castle replied.

Quill shrugged and shook his head. "Sorry. Nothing new in my head beyond what's always been there."

"Then the only way to completely take this stone out of play is to find Loki and hold onto the stone ourselves until we find its carrier," declared Fallon. "Anyone got any ideas on how to do that?"

All eyes fell on Jane, who shook her head. "He's using the stone's power to hide," she told the group. "I can't see him..." Jane's head tilted quickly, as if listening to a far-off noise. "But I think I might have located Mister Quill's true stone."

Quill's eyes went wide. "*My* stone?"

"Why didn't it call to him like the others?" asked Ward.

"The spell, maybe?" suggested Coulson.

Castle agreed. "He wasn't in the room at the time..."

"But then how can you be sure it's Quill's stone?" asked Beckett.

Jane grabbed Skye's hand first, then Beckett's. "See what I'm seeing," she ordered the Guardian. "Feel what I'm feeling. Open up all your senses."

Beckett closed her eyes and did as she was told. When they opened, her gaze darted between Jane and Quill. "The frequency's the same." Jane nodded.

"So where is this stone?" asked Fallon.

Jane and Beckett turned to each other as if trying to figure out who was going to be the one to explain. "Um, Phoenix..." Beckett began, deciding to be the one to bite the bullet. "About that..."

The room let out a collective gasp as eyes slammed shut and the image that Jane and Beckett were seeing was projected through to the rest of the group. "Damn it," Ryan cursed.

"That's in the village?!" exclaimed Alexis. Beckett nodded. "Right now?!" Beckett nodded again.

"You know what that thing is?" asked Quill.

"It's a long story..." Fallon began.

Cap cut the Director off. "It's worse than that. I recognize those police officers. But I don't think they're cops."

Ward was in full agreement. "They're HYDRA agents."

Fallon turned to Fitz and Simmons, who had visibly paled from what they had seen. "How long would it take you guys to get some portable analysis equipment together?"

"Maybe ten minutes?" Fitz replied.

"Coordinate with Yoda and DW. I want every reading you guys can get me. Crusher, go with them and get them to Bleeker as soon as they're ready."

Ryan watched the five people nod and depart, then turned to Fallon, confused. "Phoenix?"

"We've tried the metaphysical approach," Fallon replied. "And all we've been able to do is chase it off. Figured we could give the scientific approach a shot." He then returned his attention to the group as a whole. "The carriers need to stay here. Ward, shield the warehouse." When Ward nodded, Fallon continued, "the rest of us should head to the scene. Be ready for a fight."