While his parents were preparing dinner, they permitted Peter to play outside for a while longer. Peter also knew that if his parents discovered Rocket, they would have him removed from the property; therefore, it was essentially Peter's little secret. That day, Rocket appeared to be in a playful mood as it darted around, and Peter pursued the critter.

But that was when suddenly, a blinding light enveloped both Rocket and Peter. The two of them froze in fear as they looked upward and saw what appeared to be something coming down from the sky.

Peter tried looking to see where the light was coming from and saw a spaceship and a spotlight shining on it. The ship opened up, and as if gravity had gone against him, Peter and his raccoon friend were lifted off the ground and dragged inside the ship. The spaceship took both of them and took off.

When they were inside the ship, Peter was so busy covering his eyes from the blinding lights and people talking that he didn't even notice when people came and took his little friend away. He was then grabbed by the shoulders and dragged around by these monstrous-looking creatures. They looked like half robots and half animals, and he knew better than to fight them; he was just a little kid.

"Throw him in with the rest of the bad batch," someone demanded. "He could be used for some experiment. Or for food by the others."

The moment the young Peter was forcefully thrown into the large cage, he knew that he was in trouble. The cage, more like a cell, was big enough to fit a small bed and what he could guess was supposed to be a toilet and water bowl, but not much else. Peter was terrified and began to cry and whimper as he felt like an animal that had been placed in a zoo. As he scurried up and curled into a corner, he began to cry; he worried what his parents were going through right now. They probably must be worried sick about him, and they could never know what happened to him. Then, he realized he wasn't alone.

Peter noticed a figure of sorts approaching him through the darkness. It looked like a human figure, but then he noticed what appeared to be a tail swaying between their legs and ears poking out of their flowing hair in the shadows as they approached. The figure had a peculiar look, something between a cat and a human. Peter was too scared to say anything, but the figure sat next to him and offered him a piece of bread. Peter hesitated, but then he realized how hungry he was and took the bread.

As the figure stepped into the light, it appeared to be a young girl around his age with green eyes wearing a black mask made of fur around her eyes. Her hair was white and flowed down to her shoulders, while she also sported a black tail between her knees, matching the black ears poking out on her head. She offered a friendly smile when she saw how understandably terrified he was. She knelt down so that they were on equal height from one another.

The figure then spoke in a soft and gentle voice, assuring Peter that he would be okay and that he wouldn't be alone. "It's okay, friend." She tried to assuage his fears. "It's going to be okay," she assured him. "You won't be alone anymore. What's your name?"

Back in the present day, the Guardians were all currently helping out people after their recent purchase of Knowhere from the Collector. While the rest of the Guardians were hard at work, Rocket had begun to think about his past as he sat alone on the steps to the market center. He then pulled out the Walkman and began to listen to Creep by Radiohead.

"Just like an Angel. Your skin makes me cry."

Rocket sighed as he sang along with the lyrics as he strolled through the crowd and saw mostly everyone was hard at work. They were trying to make Knowhere their official base rather than living on the Bowie, which was their new ship they had replaced after the Milano was damaged beyond repair.

"You float like a feather in a beautiful world, and you wish you were special... so very special."

As Rocket made his way through the streets, he came across Mantis and Drax, who were swaying to the music. "Come on, Drax! Dance!" She said.

"Only idiots dance," Drax stated as he carried a basket toward its destination.

"And I'm a creep. I'm a weirdo."

Rocket walked past them and continued muttering the lyrics as he passed Peter, Michelle, and their daughter hanging a sign to let everyone know they were indeed the Guardians of the Galaxy, and that this was their new base. As he approached them, Rocket was prepared to help by activating his boots fitted with gravity-defying technology. But then he watched as Peter held out his arms and caught his daughter. Eliza giggled as she felt her dad tickling her and playfully nibbling on her neck. Seeing the family was having a moment, Rocket walked off and came across Kraglin and Cosmo fighting over the arrow.

"I don't belong here. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul."

Nebula and Groot were helping put together some of the market stalls while Rocket kept walking. Quill and Gamora were currently watching from a higher balcony as Rocket made his way over to his bunker. Rocket made his way inside, where he picked up one of his experimental rocket boots he and Peter had whipped up a few years ago and placed it aside.

"I want you to notice when I'm not around. You're so very special. I wish I was special. But I'm a creep. I'm a weirdo. I don't belong here."

Finally managing to wrestle the arrow from Cosmo, Kraglin finally began to get ready to try and use it, trying to get better at it. Immediately attempting to whistle it away, he failed miserably as he sent the arrow flying through the air and embedding itself into Nebula's chest. That, however, didn't seem to bother her too much as she simply yanked it out of her chest.

"Sorry," Kraglin said.

Nebula didn't respond as she marched over and shoved the arrow back into Kraglin's hand.

"Bozhe moi, Kraglin," Cosmo the telepathic dog said. "You just must know you'll never learn."

"You think that you can do better?" Kraglin asks the dog.

"Da." Cosmo stated and walled around.

Then Cosmo started to mentally lift a pebble with her powers, and everyone, including the Guardians, stopped to watch. Cosmo then tossed the pebble across the targets that Kraglin had missed. Everyone cheered at her victory, but Kraglin saw it as cheating.

"Telekinesis is cheating! That's a stupid little pebble!" Kraglin cried. "I could do the same with my blaster." He then turned to Cosmo in anger. "You know what? You're a bad dog!"

Cosmo whimpered when she heard that, turning to face Kraglin. "Do not say that to me!"

"You are. You're a bad dog," Kraglin said, seeing this as his victory and walking off.

"Take it back!" Cosmo demanded as she chased Kraglin. "Come on, that's not cool!"

"No way," Kraglin denied.

As they continued their journey, they ran into Peter and Michelle who were walking away. Michelle was carrying a sleeping Eliza in her arms. She was on her way to the apartment that she and Peter shared on Knowhere, where they would sleep and raise Eliza. With the completion of that mission on Xandar a few years ago, Eliza hadn't been on many missions, especially not since they lost the Milano.

"MJ! Did you hear?" Cosmo said, getting her attention. "He called me a bad dog and he refused to take it back!"

"I honestly don't care right now, Cosmo." MJ stated, she was just tired and wanted to go to bed.

"Hey, has Rocket seemed okay to you recently?" Peter asked his wife.

Michelle thought back to her past few encounters with Rocket and didn't feel much of a difference. She didn't have the same connection that Peter and Rocket had with one another, but they had an okay relationship. To her, there wasn't anything different about Rocket in terms of how he acted or anything.

"I don't know, he seems like the same old Rocket to me." MJ shrugged, but noticed his concern. "Why? Did he seem off to you?"

"I don't know," said Peter. "It feels like something's off with him." He explained his concern. "I may just not be thinking straight. All of this work trying to help rebuild Knowhere over the last few months has taken a lot out of me."

"Well, you also know that Rocket isn't big on expressing his emotions and will keep them bottled up for as long as he can. He's usually only big on it when he's drunk." MJ stated as she placed Eliza in her bed. "Even then, he becomes more aggressive in the process."

Peter nodded as he saw her point and sighed. "I don't know, I just worry about the guy."

MJ nodded as she walked over and pecked his cheek. "And that's why I love you."

Peter smiled and pecked her on the lips, and they just embraced the moment together. But the moment was interrupted when Eliza jumped awake and shrieked. This scared the two parents as they wondered what was wrong. They both ran over to her side and saw how scared she seemed.

MJ asked, "Eliza, honey, what is it?" as she walked over to her daughter.

Eliza told her parents, "He's coming!"

"Who?" Peter asks in confusion. "Who's coming?"

"The Golden Man!" Eliza cried out in fear. "He's here for Rocket!"

Peter and MJ weren't sure what their daughter was saying when his spider-sense alerted him to danger approaching. He jumped up and began to look around the bedroom, wondering who on Knowhere would want to attack them. Knowhere was a safe haven for anyone who had nowhere else to go. They didn't stand for violence and only allowed weapons in the armory to defend themselves against anyone coming for them.

That was when his senses became clearer and Peter shoved MJ out of the way and shielded Eliza as someone came rushing through the wall of their home. Peter managed to use his enhanced senses to slow down time enough to get a good look at him. But what confused him was how he looked almost like a Sovereign. He had the golden skin, albeit different because he had some weird device implanted in his head. He wore what looked to be armor, and even a flowing red cape.

Why is the cape the weirdest thing on that lineup?

But then Peter noticed what the man was doing; he was flying through the walls with Rocket in his arms. He became worried about what the man was doing and what he wanted from Rocket. Then he flew right through the window, shattering glass everywhere as Rocket was slammed into the roof of a nearby building.

Peter and MJ looked at one another, and both knew that they needed to hurry and suit up to save Rocket's life. They were also beginning to wonder how Eliza somehow knew that this guy was coming. She had shown small glimpses of having powers similar to Peter, but she somehow knew someone was coming before even his spidey sense could alert him.

But that wasn't as important as Rocket right now. Right now, he was all that mattered. Whoever this guy was, he was going to regret coming to Knowhere and messing with their family.