The story will go off-the-rails and into much darker territory at this point, but I promise that this has a happy ending. Also a special shout-out to Glarinetta, who has been a great help by giving me lots of information about Eternals, and basically caused this fic to develop a plot.

Peter was searching the ship high and low for the jet attachments for his boots. Either he misplaced them somewhere, or Rocket had swiped and dismantled them to make who knows what. He really hoped it was the former, though honestly expected the latter.

He walked towards the dining room to find Gamora and Drax standing by the entry. "Has anyone seen-"

The green woman shushed him, and nudged her head towards the screen. The pair was spying on Rocket's phone conversation. He was arguing with an otter in a blue jumpsuit.

"She's an otter! That's adorable. Does our little Rocket have a girlfriend?" Peter whispered as loud as possible that could still be classified as a whisper.

"They were lovers in the past," Drax informed them as quietly as he could.

Gamora shushed them again as they drowned out what Rocket and the otter were saying.

"I didn't kill Blackjack! As much as I would have liked to, I know you have feelings for him too. I called to warn you that I have an evil twin or clone or somethin' and he might be after you. He did it." Rocket sounded annoyed.

She crossed her arms and eyed him skeptically. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that?"

"When did it happen?"

The otter groaned, rolling her eyes. "You're really going to pretend that you didn't do this? Fine, I'll play along. Yesterday."

"Lylla, come on. With where we came from, this ain't all that farfetched. You should get off that rock right now."

"I have a life here. Unlike some people, I can't just leave at a moment's notice and go gallivanting around the universe. I can take care of myself."

Rocket gritted his teeth, but seemed to be trying to keep his anger under control. "Fine. Be careful." He hung up and turned around to see the group. "Why are you jerks watching? Can't a guy make a call in peace?"

A few hours later, a call came in. It was from the frequency of the otter's communicator, but she wasn't who appeared on the screen. If they hadn't known about Rocket's double and he hadn't been in the room with them, anyone would have thought it was him.

"Hello brother, or shall I say, 89P13. I hear you've been looking for me." It was unsettling, seeing someone identical to Rocket with a voice and speech pattern that was most definitely not Rocket. The imposter's voice was deeper, more refined, and menacing.

"That ain't my name and you know it, you've been using it enough. Is your name so bad that you gotta borrow mine?"

"Fine, Rocket. My name is 8- actually, call me Missile." The imposter raccoon wore a devious grin.

Rocket's eyes narrowed and his ears flattened. "Where's Lylla."

"She's right here." Missile stepped aside to reveal the captive otter. "I'll set her free if you meet me on Halfworld. We can have a nice chat. Come alone."

Peter shared a worried glance with Gamora.

"What kind of flarking idiot do you take me for?"

"I never said you needed to come unarmed. By all means, bring your entire arsenal. Until we meet again." The call ended.

"I'm going. Alone." Rocket sounded less confident than usual. The raccoon's eyes were dark and filled with determination, but also sadness and fear.

"I am Groot!" The tree was urgent and upset.

Peter understood that Lylla and Rocket used to have a thing, but for her to mean so much to the cyborg that he'd go back there to protect her was huge. "That's a bad idea. If you're alone, the Nova Corps might assume you're the evil one and probably arrest you."

"You told them! I told you not to!" The mammal looked ready to attack Peter.

"Take friend Groot with you." Drax butted in.

"What's he gonna do, dance my clone to death?" Rocket waved his arms mockingly. He had a point, Groot was still small.

"I am Groot." Groot slumped, looking disappointed.

"I will go with him," Gamora offered.

Another call came in, this time from Nova Prime. "Mr. Quill, we have an emergency, I am requesting the Guardians' assistance. Chitauri forces are attacking Xandar." She kept up appearances, but sounded worried.

Of course, everything had to fall apart all at once. "We'll be short a few members, but Drax and I will be right there."

They nodded at each other and hung up.

Peter turned back to his friends. "Let's split up, gang. We'll regroup on Knowhere. Try to meet there in a week or two. I'm planning a trip to Earth, but the timing's really important. We can only go on a certain day, so if this takes too long we'll have to wait a whole year."

"Egg McMuffins!" Rocket's excitement was quickly replaced with worry. "Wait, Quill. Terra? Are you sure? I thought-"

"Changed my mind. Thought it might be nice to visit." He smiled at his friends.

Peter and Drax were surrounded by Chitauri soldiers. He noticed that the maniac didn't seem to be enjoying this as much as he usually relished combat. Maybe he was worried about there just being too many. A few of the Nova Corps people were helping, but that wasn't making much of a difference.

If only Peter had his jet boots, he could fly up and get some range on them. Suddenly, he began floating in the air, around seven or eight feet up, guns falling to the ground. He couldn't find his balance and was flailing around as if the gravity disappeared, but it only affected him. "Uh, Drax, a little help here?"

"Eternal powers are derived from focus." Drax didn't miss a beat as he sliced his way through the countless enemies.

Peter closed his eyes, ignoring the enemy shots firing in his direction. When his eyes opened, crimson beams of energy hurtled out of his hands towards the assailants. It felt a little like using the infinity stone, the power surging through his body. Granted, it was much weaker, not painful at all, and completely controlled. It was invigorating. These powers had a disappointing lack of sound effects, but that was an easy fix. "Pew, pew! Pew, pew! This is so cool! Drax, are you seeing this? Pew, pew!" Peter was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"I am busy, show me later. I also do not understand what temperature has to do with anything, Xandar is quite warm."

One of the soldiers had a long whip, and threw it so it wrapped around Peter's neck. It was hard to focus on anything while being choked. Drax was being led away from him, taking down assailants in the other direction. A sharp jolt coursed through Peter's body as the whip suddenly electrified. He fell to the ground. "Drax!" Peter hoped he got his friend's attention, but a second later everything went dark.

When Peter regained consciousness, he found himself on a flat black plane against the infinite cosmos. The galaxy in the distance was an angry red color. Angular obsidian rock formations jutted out from the surface as if the floor had teeth. He attempted to move and immediately discovered that he was restrained. Someone gripped at the back of his neck and pulled him into a kneeling position, allowing a view of his captor. Directly in front of Peter, in a hovering throne, sat the giant purple ugly one himself with a malicious grin on his face.

"Thanos. Wow, you're even uglier in person." Peter scowled at him, hoping the false bravado wouldn't be taken as such. He was in serious trouble, and had no clue as to a method of escape.

Thanos was a cruel being responsible for countless atrocities, but Peter was more focused on a few. The Mad Titan killed Gamora's family and turned her into a weapon. He was the one who ordered Ronan to kill Drax's family. The whole mess with Ronan and the infinity stone was his fault too.

"Greetings, my nephew. Welcome to your new home." Thanos' voice was booming and intimidating.

"You found out awfully fast." It was probably someone in that bar on Deneb-7 that told Thanos. Peter hadn't told anyone, and had no reason to believe that Starfox or any of his friends had either.

"I have ears in all corners of the universe. Did you really believe you could hide such information from me forever? Rejoice, for you shall be my greatest weapon. Yet make no mistake, your power pales in comparison to my own." From what Peter had heard, Thanos was being totally honest. He was widely known as one of the most powerful beings in existence.

"And if I refuse?" Peter was afraid to ask.

"There are so many possibilities. I could effortlessly destroy everything you hold dear, your precious Terra, your little friends. But I do not have to worry about such trivial matters, because you will not refuse. You do not get a choice." Thanos stared Peter down. The Earthling had never felt so small before.

"Yeah, right. Basically everyone that works for you betrays you the first chance they get." Gamora, Ronan, and Nebula had all jumped ship as soon as possible. Peter just needed to wait for that opportunity, and hope that it would be sooner rather than later.

"That is why I have developed methods to ensure your loyalty. But do not despair, as I am not without mercy. You shall live comfortably because you are of use to me." Thanos smiled again, reveling in the man's impending suffering.

Peter felt himself being carried, seeing nothing but the ceilings of dark hallways. He was placed on a cold metal table and stripped to his underwear. They bound him to the table and injected him with something, probably anesthetic. No, if it were anesthetic, the knives wouldn't have hurt so much. It must have been a drug to prevent him from moving, as he could no longer struggle. Screams and pleas escaped from his mouth, even though he knew they wouldn't do any good. Every incision was ripping him apart. The only worse pain he had ever experienced was holding the infinity stone. This was what it must have been like for Gamora and Rocket. He acted like he understood what they had been through, but he had no idea, not really. Now he knew what it was like to be torn apart and put back together, foreign metal parts being forced into the body. After the operation, he promptly passed out.

Peter awoke sitting down, strapped to a chair, with some strange device on his head. Looking down as far as he could, he saw that he was wearing a sleeveless shirt made from parts of his jacket. Thin angled lines of exposed metal decorated his arms, just like on Gamora's face. Everything ached, but it didn't hurt as much as he expected. Thanos sat there grinning as the machine activated with an electrical hum.

Peter's memories flashed before his eyes as they faded away, leaving only darkness.

But in the cassette tape that was his mind, some memories were too strong to be overwritten.

Peter's memories quickly flooded back to him. He remembered his brief childhood on Terra, his mother's death and his inability to hold her hand. Immediately after that he had been abducted by Yondu and taken into space. His father was irresponsible, so he was taken in by his uncle Thanos and trained to be a warrior. Peter didn't take things seriously, but he was crafty, and eager to please his uncle.

He felt hollow. Finding himself in his quarters aboard Thanos' Throneship, many important things that belonged to him were missing. His prized possession was the mixtape from his mother, nowhere to be found. The Milano was the ship he stole from Yondu, it was not in the hangar.

He longed for the companionship of his adopted cousin Gamora. Without using his powers, she would easily best him in a fair fight, which is why he never fought fairly against her. Despite their differences, they had been very close until Gamora betrayed them and ran off. Peter wished to be reunited with his pet raccoon, it ran away. It could talk, and they argued constantly. Even so, things weren't the same without it. He missed the living tree that used to grow in his garden. The tree was one of the kindest beings he had ever known, but it found Peter too cruel and disappeared. Fighting was more fun with his sparing partner that took every word literally. He had no idea where that man went. They left him. Everyone always left him. Except Uncle Thanos.

He remembered who he was. He was Peter Jason Quill, The Star-Lord, one of the most powerful beings in the universe.