"What on earth are you?" Pietro asked, as he circled the strange tree over and over again.

"I am Groot," the tree replied.

Pietro nodded. "Yes. Groot. Very well. Where are you from?"

"I am Groot," the tree repeated, a little sadly.

Pursing his lips, Pietro asked, "So, that wasn't helpful, but that's okay. Why are you here?"

The tree made a motion with his mouth that Pietro took to be something of a sigh. "I am Groot."

"Nod if that's the only thing you can say," Pietro ordered. The tree nodded. "Great," Pietro exclaimed. "Well, look, bud, I'd like to help you out. Alright?"

"I am Groot," the tree said approvingly.

Smiling, Pietro said, "Good. I'm Pietro Maximoff. Um. Are you thirsty? Do you drink water? I don't know what the average diet of a walking, talking tree is, I'm very sorry."

"I am Groot," the tree replied softly, patting Pietro on the back.

"Look, Groot, pal, here's the deal," Pietro began, "I don't know why OsCorp sent its goons after you, but it's up to us to figure it out. I have a friend who might be able to help us out."

Pietro grabbed Groot's hand and began leading him across the park until they eventually wound up at the apartment building of the Parkers. Repeatedly pressing the buzzer button, Richard Parker's voice eventually came over the intercom and said, "Yes, yes, we heard you. Who is this?"

"Hey bud it's me I just found someone who I think you can help me identify so if you could come down or let me up that'd be wonderful."

"Pietro! Yeah, I'll be right down."

A few minutes later, Richard Parker was at the door, his mouth agape. "What on-"

"I am Groot," Groot introduced.

"I know what you are," Richard replied hastily. "I just-that's right. You can only say that right?" He turned to Pietro. "Where did you find it?"

"I found him in Central Park," Pietro remarked. "OsCorp security was combing the place for this big guy. They almost killed me, actually." Pietro lifted his wounded ankle to show Richard. "This was their fault. Luckily, Groot here saved my life."

"I am Groot," Groot stated proudly.

Richard rubbed his forehead. "Pietro, you don't understand. Groot is one of the biggest off-the-books projects at OsCorp. This is in the field of Weapon X or their gamma bombs."

"OsCorp has gamma bombs?" Pietro asked.

"Had gamma bombs," Richard explained. "After the incident in Nevada…well, let's just say that Groot is a secret from most of the employees at OsCorp. It's essential we figure out how to get him back there."

Suddenly, Groot pinned Richard up against a wall. "I am Groot," the tree shouted angrily.

"Woah! Calm down there, big guy!" Pietro said as lightly as he could. "No need to squish poor Dr. Parker, alright? Just let him go. We will not bring you back to OsCorp, okay?"

Groot nodded his approval and let Richard go. "Is there any other way to get this thing done?" Pietro asked. "Something we can do without giving Groot back to them?"

Sighing, Richard said, "Look, there's one thing. Groot is the only successful experiment from this project so far, but if they think he eventually failed, they wouldn't be bothered to look for him anymore."

Pietro nodded. "That makes sense. How do we do that?"

"That's the hard part," Richard warned. "We'd need to break into the facility, alter the records, and then someone make one of the other experiments appear to be this one. They'll think he broke in and died and no one will be any the wiser."

"You seem to have this down pretty well," Pietro noted. "Have you thought about this before?"

Richard shrugged. "Let's just say, I've wondered about similar things before."

Pietro nodded. "Where is this facility?"

"It's in New Jersey," Richard replied. "Should we wait for your leg to heal?"

"I can handle some pain," Pietro assured him. "Groot saved my life, Richard. It's my turn to save his."

Nodding, Richard sighed, "I'm going to tell Mary I'm leaving. I'll be down in just a second, alright?"

Pietro nodded. "I understand."

Giving a small smile, Richard went back up to his apartment. When he returned about ten minutes later, he was holding a pair of keys and a briefcase. "Follow me," he demanded. They went with Richard, who brought them to a parking garage just a block away. They found themselves at a large van, which Groot got into the back of and the two others got up front.

"So, here's the deal," Richard started, "we need to access the computers of the head scientist, alright? It should be someone named Dr. Erik Selvig."

"The one who was just murdered in a Friday's1?" Pietro asked. "Why is it in his office?"

"He was the head of the project, Pietro," Richard repeated. "He's the only one with access to all of the records and most likely the only one who can alter records if need be, which is a key part in this experiment. That's going to be my job, however."

"How will you handle security?"

"I'm currently one of the highest ranking scientists in OsCorp, Mr. Maximoff," Richard explained. "It's not unusual for someone of my authority to pop in for visits. Especially after the brutal murder of one of my best underlings."

Pietro nodded. "I understand. So, what's my part?"

"In the basement of the facility we are going to, you will find some capsules. Inside each of them is another Groot being grown, but most of them are beyond saving. They died long ago, but Erik Selvig was just too proud to admit it. He loved those things unlike anything else, and he was likely the only one who would recognize if one of them when missing."

"So I need to make one of them disappear," Pietro guessed.

"Kind of. You need to take the lifeform inside and plant it somewhere in the building, but only after Groot is seen on camera walking around."

"I am Groot," the tree grumbled.

"It's going to be okay, man," Pietro promised. "So, that's best case scenario? What's the worst?"

Richard chuckled. "We get discovered, the two of us are killed and your friend is returned to OsCorp."

"Ha! Kill me," Pietro laughed. "They're allowed to try."

The van kept going forward until they eventually found themselves at a small factory that looked almost abandoned if not for the small building by the front gates that held a very official looking security guard inside.

"Do you have access to be here?" the guard asked.

Richard looked at the guard and said, "My name is Dr. Richard Parker. I'm here for a quick inspection to make sure that everything is still going okay after the death."

The guard frowned. "Curious you should be here too."

"Is someone else here?"

"Yes sir. Dr. Storm just arrived a few minutes ago."

Richard smiled. "Right, Dr. Storm. Thank you."

"No problem, sir."

The gates opened and the van pulled in, parking inside of a dirt parking lot. Richard got out and said, "Here's the deal, guys. Pietro you're going to be my bodyguard. Tell the thing to stay here for about ten minutes or whatever before he barges in."

"So we have a ten minute time table?" Pietro whined.

"I have faith we can do this in that time," Richard encouraged, grabbing his briefcase.

Pietro smiled. "I know that, I'm worried about what to do with the seven minutes I'm just standing around."

Richard laughed. "Let's go, Speedy."

The two began to walk, and Pietro sniffled his nose in disapproval. "Speedy? I don't even shoot arrows."

The response was a disapproving glance. "You're a piece of work, Maximoff."

"You should talk to my mother," Pietro suggested. "She has a list." Then he thought for a moment. "My sister has a file."

Without another word, Richard opened the door to the OsCorp facility.

1 Check out my other story, Charles & Erik, The Prologue!