Nova Prime stood outside of the high security room doors. Behind them, the guardians were safe. She sighed. She knew that once she walked through these doors, she'll meet the personification of chaos itself. She had decided that she will give them time to go to other places in the building, but not leave it. It was still too dangerous to go outside. She placed her hand over the finger print panel and she was granted access to the inside. He was right. It was the chaos personification itself. Groot hold Rocket in the air before the raccoon had the chance to deteriorate Peter's face. Said man cowered in a corner of the room. Gamora and Drax fought about something and Lotus was sitting over the table. In the middle of it all. Nova shook her head. So this was the family that would be raising her. What a madhouse… That was never good. But she was no one to judge.

"Ahem…"

The guardians stopped what they were doing and looked at Nova. "About time…" Rocket mumbled.

"I'm here to grand you permission to leave this room, but don't leave the building until I say so."

In less than a minute, the guardians rushed pass her, a gust of powerful wind followed them. Nova sighed and followed them outside. Peter was the first to reach the spacious conference room with thousands of windows on the far wall. Lotus squealed happily in his arms, feeling relieved to be out of that confined space. Peter smiled at the little girl and placed a small kiss on her forehead. "That's right, Lotus. We finally get to see the light of day after seven hours trapped inside that room."

Gamora and the rest of the team took seat in the familiar rectangular crystal table, admiring the view of the city. She stretched her arms and back while she sat down. Peter put Lotus on a cushioned chair and he sat at the edge of the table in front of her. "Wonder what this Crimson Red wants with us…"

"Probably to decapitate you because you are an asshole." Rocket said.

"And what about Lotus?"

Rocket shrugged, having no answer to that one. Peter rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to Gamora, beautiful, green, deathly Gamora.

"Are you looking at me again?" She asked.

Oh, oh… Caught in the act again. He gave her a goofy, love-struck smile. She just rolled her eyes and looked away. A small blush formed on her cheeks. Rocket rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Get a room…" He mumbled.

I that same moment, Nova Prime walked in. "We don't have information on Crimson's whereabouts, therefore, I can't let you out of the building for your own safety."

Drax gave an audible growl while Peter sighed. "Don't you have any games or something?"

"I'll see what I can do-"

She was cut off by a large explosion that send them off from their chairs onto the floor. The windows shattered and everything went into slow motion. Peter slammed his head into the crystal table, breaking a small part of it. He grabbed Lotus before something happened to her. He protected the baby with his body, kneeling on the floor. Holding her tight. Smoke filled the room. Nova landed on her back while Groot slammed into a wall, Drax and Rocket followed. Gamora was thrown off her chair, slamming her head into the hard cold floor. Shattered glass was scattered on the floor. Peter had a large cut on his forehead that dripped small blood drops. Lotus cried in fear. Peter looked at the small baby. She was unharmed but her clothes were dirty with smoke. Peter smiled at the girl in relieve, she was ok.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and everything went black. The sounds of alerting alarms filled the room.

OOO

He was brought back to consciousness by the smell of smoke and blood mixed in the air. The alarms were going crazy, he knew that by the red lights that shone in the room. He couldn't hear quite well, whatever or whoever hit him in the head surely was a master. He waited a few moments laying on the floor. The sounds around him slowly started to come back, but not quite.

He saw Gamora kneeling down in front of him, an ugly bruise forming on her forehead and a panicked expression on her face. He looked at her. The only things he could hear were his slow breaths. The sound of Gamora's voice slowly made sense.

"Peter!"

"What…"

"Peter! Can you hear me!?"

Peter looked at her, a little bit disorientated. "Yes." He slowly got up and sat down. The room was a total mess. Shattered glass was scattered on the floor, smoke filled the air and a small fire took life in the far corner. Groot looked fine, he could heal quickly. He was helping Nova Prime to stand up, her legs looked like they were shivering and she had a small cut on her cheek but otherwise she was fine. Rocket and Drax looked fine as well except for a few cuts and Gamora seemed fine aside her bruise. That left one last person in question.

"Where's Lotus?" He asked.

Gamora looked at him in panic. "I thought she was with you."

Now it was Peter's turn to panic. He quickly got up, a little bit shaken but that didn't stop him. He looked around the room, looking for his little daughter.

"Lotus!" He called.

He looked around again and saw a pistol laying around. He walked towards it and pick it up. He recognized it. It was a Ravenger gun. His heart beat accelerated as everything started to make sense. The Ravengers were the ones that attacked the headquarters. His poor innocent defenseless little daughter was taken by the Ravengers as hostage. And there was no trace of her. Fear started to build in his being. The fear that he might never see the little baby he loved with all his heart consumed him.

"LOTUS!"

OOO

"Are you sure that this lady is willing to pay us one billion units for this little rascal?" The blue skinned man said as he tried to block away the sounds of loud baby cries.

"Yes, sir." Kraglin said.

A group of Ravengers walked the dark hallways towards a vast room. In the middle of it, a red hooded woman stood. She sensed foreign presences behind her and she turned around, smirk on her face. "I see that you have done your job well." She walked towards them with a suitcase on hand.

Yondu Udonta grabbed baby Lotus from the Kraglin's hands and walked towards Crimson Red. "You got the money?"

Crimson held up the suitcase. "Of course, but first things first. Hand her over."

Yondu handed the poor crying baby to the woman and in turn he received the suitcase. He open it and gave a low whistle. One billion shiny units. Perfect. He smirked and closed the suitcase. "So, what's with the crying terror? Wouldn't her parents be worried or something?"

"That's for me to know and for you to never find out. Now go. Shoo!" Crimson said as she tried to calm down Lotus, who cried even more at the presence of the strange red woman.

"Just a second, darling. I mean, you must tell me who are her parents so we can put on a price for her and-"

"Enough! I won't stand this nonsense. Go before I call my guards!"

Yondu rolled his eyes. "Alright, just teasing. Our work here is done so we have nothing to do with that baby. In fact, I'm GLAD we got rid of her. She has some lungs…" And he walked away with the rest of his team.

Once the Ravengers were out of site, Crimson smirked and caressed Lotus delicate cheek. "What an adorable baby. You certainly took after your father. And you have such lovely pink eyes. I bet when you grow up you will certainly turn some heads around."

Lotus' cries echoed through the vast room. It was clear she feared this woman. Where was her daddy? Where was her mommy? Mr. Ears? Anyone?

Crimson chuckled. "Oh, don't cry, my dear lotus blossom. We are going to have so much fun together. Do you like playing 'Bait'? Because aside you, I have a bigger fish to catch. And you my little flower, you are going to bring that fish to me. You are just the distraction."