Marvel owns the X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, no profit is to be made from this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Ah ha ha! Never would I have thought to find myself enjoying your company as I do now! Clearly word of your redemption upon Xandar has spread only so far!" Drax gleefully shouted as he hurled a being bodily at two others.

"Oh shut up!" Gamora snarled back, tightening her hold on one attacker for support as she lashed out at another with a well placed punch to the throat.

Reputations were fickle things, a veritable coin toss of good and bad luck all depending on what came up. Drax had earned his in the bloody business of revenge fit for the so named Destroyer, but Gamora herself...hers had been forced upon her by a desperate act of survival against the machinations of Thanos. To the galaxy at large she was a murderess, a vile assassin and a wretched whore.

But to one world alone she had been given a chance at the very redemption Drax spoke of, standing against Ronan and in doing so telling her self avowed father that she would endure no more. On entering the bar the atmosphere shifted, the raucous conversation of ten fold beings dying with only the music to break the silence. It was the tense moment of a stand off, an unspoken question asked with the eyes alone as so many looked to their companions for answers.

Some looked on her and Drax as unlikely heros, the saviours of their homeworld and that of their family and friends, but too many others still knew the pain of loss that would never vanish. Opportunity had knocked for some who had greedy eyes and knew of tens of worlds who still had bounties for her, the daughter of the mad titan Thanos. One angry shout was the spark needed, an inferno of tumultuous emotions exploding in that one instant.

"I'm going to shave that rodent when we find him!" Gamora shouted without a care who heard, flexing and hearing the satisfying pop of a dislocated limb.

Throwing the screaming man away to hobble off into the teeming crowd, another warily took his place, casting a nervous look off at the fallen before meeting her gaze. This one found courage in his knife, a sleek blade that he looked to have some skill with.

"Drax?" Gamora called out, "Switch!"

Fighting back to back in the melee just so they would have one less thing to worry about, Gamora found herself facing a brute of a being in the stead of her former knife wielding opponent. His grin turned sadistic, though his eyes had something dark and lecherous in them with how the tables had turned. His stance painted him as ex-military, one that believed in making a better solider even if they had to rebuild them from scratch.

"Military grade enhancements?" Gamora asked to which the man just nodded.

Most Merc's ended up getting enhanced or modded in some way or another, why wait on a cloned transplant when a bit of off the shelf hardware filled the holes a being had in them that needed plugged? He had first blood with a thunderous punch that left her spitting ichor against the filthy floor of the watering hole, his speed and reflexes honed and sharpened by whatever battles he had fought to put an edge on the blade his military had forged him to be.

Straightening up with a deep breath, Gamora stood under his expectant gaze and saw him appraising her down to the very last unit. Smiling at him and feeling a thrill she hadn't ever known until her escape from the Kyln, she wasn't fighting for anyone other than herself and such freedom excited her.

"Not bad." Gamora spat with the blood that stained her teeth, it was a compliment given with a dismissive shrug.

His smug smile had her own growing even broader, she hated men like him. Striking fast and hard with a kick to his knee and a punch to his chest, she gave him reason to scream then stole from him the very breath he needed for it. Military grade paled in comparison to how far Thanos had gone to improve the children he had claimed as his own from the worlds he had conquered, from the families he had destroyed, all if it her dark inheritance.

"Who's next?!" Gamora shouted in challenge, for every one she sent off broken and beaten the longer it took for another to step up.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Just tell me he's the guy who knows the guy who knows the you know who guy you told me not to ask about until we got back to the ship!" Jubilee screamed above the crowd.

"He's the guy!" Rocket promised.

Not that he was going to go telling Pete just which guy he was supposed to know, not until they had the vacuum of space between them and any eavesdroppers. Kid was hanging tight to Groot as Groot did what he did good, providing the muscle. It wasn't hard to tell just where Gamora and Drax had gotten off to, all they had to do was go against the tide of people getting the heck outta the local vicinity.

"Is it just me or do these dudes look way stoked to be rolling with you guys?" Struggling against the few vines that kept her from slipping off, Jubilee peeked past Groot's shoulder at the company they had picked up.

"Xandarians, we sort of saved their world from a psycho out to destroy it." Peter explained with a nod to their entourage.

"Seriously?!"

"Not to brag, but they were calling us the Guardians of the Galaxy."

Rubbing his eyes out of sheer frustration, Rocket wondered just what it was with Quill and code names, even the kid didn't look impressed. Actually she looked kind of shocked and kept pointing ahead as she held tight to Groot. Figuring she had been doing pretty good for her first trip off her home rock, prim Humie Jubilee was, that begged the question of just what the heck was she pointing at? Slinging his blaster across his back and clawing his way up Pete for a look, Rocket had his answer.

"Ow, ow, claws! What are you...oh..." Peter hissed in a pained breath, fighting Rocket as he tugged at his ear to direct his gaze.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not by the way, but those ain't the colours I should be seeing on this deck?"

Being the safe haven of criminals, outlaws and beings of questionable morals, the Whale didn't exactly have one local governing body as, for example, Xandar had the Nova Corps. Turf and territory were divvied up between those who could hold it, and at the first sign of anyone lacking in that skill there were always folk interested in proving they could.

"You don't happen to have anything on you for if things get real hardcore, do you?" Looking pointedly to the rather raccoon shaped being riding shotgun on his shoulder, Pete took it as a distraction from the heavily armed beings heading their way.

"I might. Hey kid, what's the worst you can do besides singed whiskers?"

"Kinda blew up a house once." Jubilee confessed.

"What!?" Peter shouted, "What do you mean you blew up a house?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"And that makes it better?! Do I even want to ask how? Because I don't need to ask Rocket why he brought you along anymore if your hobbies include blowing stuff up!"

Finding himself under the twofold glare of both Groot and the girl, Pete rolled his eyes and reminded himself that he didn't have time for silly questions, questions like how a girl probably not even old enough to date blew up a house. He had better questions to be asked, like just where Drax and Gamora were, and how long would it take them all to get back to the Milano and out of system.

"You're a dick!"

"Oh she has no idea how many times I've heard that."

"You really do have issues Quill."

It wasn't as if Pete was going to deny that, being raised by Ravagers who considered him a sometimes food did that to a kid. Twenty six years later, and he was a product of his environment, which just happened to include the worst parts of the galaxy. Except of course for his nagging conscience that proved the case for Nature over Nurture that had him feeling a little bad for how he had just treated the girl.

"Okay, I admit maybe that was a little..."

"Paf!"

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-