"The Power Stone, one of the six infinities born from the creation of the universe. With its power the Stone can destroy entire planets in an instant, though many that have tried to wield it parish themselves. And with its power made know to Rocket and the others, those seeking such destructive power are soon to come and make it their own…"
"How could I think Tivan could contain whatever was within the Orb?" Gamora asked herself as she and Quill exited the Collector's den.
"What do you still have it for!?" Rocket exclaimed as he looked at her in shock.
"Well what are we gonna do, leave it in there?" Quill questioned.
"I can't believe you were carrying around such a powerful artifact in your purse," Teefs shook his head.
"It's not a purse, it's a knapsack!" Quill retorted.
"We have to bring this to the Nova Corps. There's a chance they can contain it," Gamora said.
"I have to agree. Even if we're wanted criminals at the moment, it's better than if someone like Ronan or stars forbid Thanos got their hands on it," Lylla nodded.
"I get what you're saying, Ly, but I'd rather just get outta here and put all of this nonsense behind us," Rocket said.
"Friend Rocket leave new friends behind?" Floor gasped.
"They're not our friends, Floor. We were just going with them to get our payment, and now we have no units, no buyer, and no ship to get off this flarking planet!" Rocket growled, making the rabbit flinch at his aggression. "Besides, what has the galaxy ever done for us, huh!? Why should I or any of us for that matter put our tails on the line to save it!?"
"Because I'm one of the idiots that lives in it!" Quill shouted.
"Peter, listen to me. We cannot allow the Stone to fall into Ronan's hands. We have to go back to your ship, and deliver it to the Nova," Gamora said.
"Right, right, okay. I think you're right," Quill nodded. "Or, we could give it to somebody who's not going to arrest us, who's really nice, for a whole lot of money. I think it's a really good balance between both of your points of view."
Gamora looked at him in disgust. "You're despicable. Dishonorable. Faithless!"
"I am Groot…?" Groot said with worry, pointing up at the sky. The group turned around to see Kree ships coming down into Knowhere, with Drax laughing as he help up his knives, ready for combat.
"Oh flark…" Rocket cursed, already reaching for his gun.
"At last! I shall meet my foe and destroy him," Drax laughed.
"You called Ronan!?" Lylla and Quill exclaimed.
"Quill! Don't you move, boy!" a voice shouted, making the group turn to see a blue skinned man with a red mohawk wearing the Ravagers uniform making his way through the crowd.
"Who that?" Floor wondered as Quill and Gamora made their escape.
"I think we have more pressing matters right now, Floor…" Teefs said worriedly as Ronan stepped out of his ship to confront Drax.
"Ronan the Accuser!" the destroyer shouted.
"You are the one who transmitted the message?" Ronan asked.
"You killed my wife… You killed my daughter!" Drax shouted.
"…Yeah, I think we should be going now," Rocket said, running off to follow Quill and Gamora.
"But what about Mr. Drax?" Teefs asked.
"He dug his own grave, let him lie in it!" Rocket said callously as Batch 89 made their exit. The group quickly caught up to Quill and Gamora, finding the two commandeering one of the mining crafts. Rocket opened up one of the pods and started clambering inside. "Okay, it looks like there ain't enough room in one of these things for Groot or Teefs to feet… Floor, Lylla, with me!"
"I am Groot?" Groot asked.
"We'll be back to get you two once we secure the Milano," Lylla said. "Stay safe out there!" With that the three pods took off towards the Milano, though it wasn't long before they had Kree ships on their tails, no doubt coming after the Orb.
"Floor, fire the weapons!" Rocket ordered.
"Uh… Floor see no weapons," Floor replied.
Rocket growled. "Great, just great… I really wish we had the Rakk 'N' Ruin right about now. How are we supposed to fight back without any weapons!?"
"These are industrial grade pods. They're practically indestructible," Quill replied over the coms.
"Not against necroblasts they're not," Rocket shook his head.
"That's not what I'm saying," Quill said.
Rocket paused before he got a smirk on his face. "Oh… Okay gang, hang onto something!" Rocket pulled on the controls and rammed their pod right into the Kree ships, knocking them off-balance and making them crash into each other.
"Woah… Floor spinning again!" Floor exclaimed as Rocket worked to rebalance the pod.
"Ugh, I should have had a lighter lunch if I knew we were going to be doing this…" Lylla said, turning a bit green in the face from the intense motion.
"Hold it in until we get outside Ly," Rocket said before ramming right through another ship. The raccoon piloted their pod expertly, zipping around and ramming through as many Kree ships as they could. Ronan had brought his whole army, though, and there seemed to be a never-ending wave of ships pursuing them.
"Quill, I can't make it to the Milano. I have to take this outside!" Gamora said.
"These things aren't made to go outside!" Quill replied, but Gamora was already flying her pod out of Knowhere to try and escape. It was a futile attempt, as a blast from one of the ships obliterated the pod, leaving Gamora floating out in space.
"Gamora!" Floor shouted in despair, pressing her face against the window and vainly trying to reach out to her.
"Oh no…" Lylla whispered in fear as one of the ships used a tractor beam to grab the Orb, meaning Ronan had one this battle.
Rocket looked at Gamora's body floating out in space, closing his eyes and sucking in his breath before deciding to make his next move. "Quill, come on. Her body mods should keep her alive a couple more minutes, but there's nothing we can do for her. These pods aren't meant to be out here. In a second, we're gonna be in the same boat."
"Rocket…?" Floor looked at the raccoon in shock as he turned the pod around and went back to Knowhere. "No, we save Gamora! Rocket Lylla Floor Quill save Gamora!"
"I'm doing what's best for my friends, Floor!" Rocket suddenly barked. "And I'm not going to let you all die in the cold vacuum of space like Gamora. She's gone, Floor… I'm sorry…"
Floor started tearing up as Lylla went to comfort the rabbit, Rocket trying his best not to let the crying get to him as he flew away. Until… "Yondu! Yondu!" Quill's voice crackled over the coms.
"Quill?" Rocket said, turning the pod to look at him.
"This is Quill! My coordinates are 227K324!" Quill said.
"Quill. Quill, what are you doing?" Rocket questioned.
Quill went on, "It's just outside Knowhere. If you're there, come get me. I'm all yours."
Rocket looked on in shock as Quill got out of his pod and flew over to grab Gamora's body. "Quill, don't be ridiculous! Get back into your pod! You can't fit two people in there. You're gonna die. You'll die in seconds. Quill-" But the coms died after that. Rocket, Lylla, and Floor watched as Quill took of his mask and put in on Gamora, practically sacrificing himself to save her until the light of a Ravager ship shined down on them, pulling the two inside.
"…We have to go get Groot and Teefs," Rocket said. "I'm done with all of this…"
Back down on Knowhere, Groot and Teefs had gone back to where Drax had last been seen battling against Ronan. While the two didn't see the full outcome of the fight, it was clear that Ronan had won seeing as the accuser's ship was leaving the area. Teefs pulled out a scanner from his collar and found Drax drowning in a pool of celestial fluid.
"Groot, get him out of there!" Teefs ordered, the tree man nodding and stretching his limbs to pull Drax from the pool. "His lungs are filled with fluid. Oh, if only my large and distinguished teeth didn't get in the way of performing CPR…" Groot once again came in with the answer by transforming one of his fingers into a needle, jabbing it into Drax and forcing the warrior to cough up the fluid from his lungs. "Oh, that worked well. Good thinking, Groot."
"I am Groot," Groot replied.
It was then that Rocket's pod came crashing down near the three of them, the raccoon muttering angerly to himself while Floor and Lylla took a moment stop their heads from spinning. "Blasted idiot. They're all idiots!" Rocket shouted, looking at Drax with distain. "Quill just got himself captured. None of this would have happened if you didn't try to single-handedly take on a fricking army!"
Drax sighed. "You're right… I was a fool. All the anger, all the rage… was just to cover my loss."
"Mr. Destroyer…" Teefs said, putting a comforting flipper on the man's shoulder.
"Oh boo-hoo, "My wife and child are dead"," Rocket mocked, causing the rest of Batch 89 to gasp.
"Rocket!" Lylla exclaimed.
"That's no excuse to go and do something stupid and leaving everybody else dead along the way!" Rocket went off. "That's why I use my head before doing stuff, why I make all of my plans. I have to be responsible for these guys so I don't loss any of 'em… I-I don't think I could live with myself if they died because of me." The raccoon turned away from Drax. "Groot, Teefs, let's go. Ronan has the Stone, so we need to get to the other side of universe where maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to live our full lives before that wack-job ever gets there."
"I am Groot," Groot said, standing up tall.
"Save them?" Rocket questioned.
"Yes! Friends save friends!" Floor nodded in agreement.
"Floor, they're not-" Rocket started to say.
"Rocket say Quill Gamora Drax not friends, but they friends to Floor!" Floor shouted.
"I agree with Floor," Teefs said. "We may not have known them for long, but I felt a connection when our group was together, escaping the Kyln as a team."
Lylla put a hand on Rocket's shoulder. "Rocky, I get that you want to keep us safe, but aren't you tired of always running away? Wouldn't you like to make more friends than just us?"
"I am Groot," Groot nodded.
Rocket shrugged, before turning around and kicking the ground. "…I know, I know, okay!? But there's an army of Ravagers around them. And there's only the five of us!"
"…Six," Drax corrected, taking a stand next to Groot and Teefs.
The raccoon's fur bristled, before dropping his arms and letting out a huge sigh. "Fine, maybe I miss Quill and Gamora too, okay!? There, I said it!" He calmed down a bit and looked at his team. "Well? How are we gonna do it then? Any idea is a good idea at the moment."
"Well, we still have the Milano, right?" Teefs pointed out.
"And there is that new weapon you've been working on," Lylla added.
Rocket nodded. "Okay, okay… okay! Yeah, we could do something with those. Let's walk and talk on the way to the ship, got it?"
"Yeah! Rocket Lylla Floor Teefs Groot Drax go save friends!" Floor cheered as the gang went to go do just that.
[***]
And that was how Batch 89 and Drax ended up parking the Milano right outside of Yondu's ship, firing off some non-damaging shots to get their attention as Drax standing on top of the ship with Rocket's latest weapon. "Attention, idiots. The lunatic on top of this craft is holding a Hadron Enforcer. It's a weapon of my own design."
"I'm surprised he finished it so fast," Lylla whispered, Teefs nodding in agreement.
"If you don't hand over our companions now, he's gonna tear your ship a new one. A very big new one!" Rocket threatened. "I'm giving you to the count of five. Five! Four! Three…"
Suddenly, Quill's voice came over the coms. "Rocket, it's me, for God's sakes! We figured it out! We're fine!"
"…Oh hey, Quill. What's going on?" Rocket asked. The Milano was then let onto Yondu's ship where the team reunited with Quill and Gamora to hear what their plan was. "You call that "figuring it out"!? We're gonna rob the guys that beat us senseless."
"Oh, you want to talk about senseless? How about trying to save us by blowing us up?" Quill shot back.
"To be fair, it was only if they weren't going to turn you over, if even that, Mr. Star-Lord," Teefs spoke up.
"And how on earth were they going to turn us over when you only gave them five seconds?" Quill questioned.
"We didn't have time to work out the minutiae of the plan…" the walrus muttered.
"We just want to help friends," Floor sighed.
"I am Groot," Groot shook his head.
They are ungrateful," Rocket nodded.
"What's important now is we get the Ravagers' army to help us save Xandar," Gamora refocused the team.
"So we can give the Stone to Yondu, who will then sell it to somebody even worse?" Lylla questioned. "It sounds like we'll be stuck going in circles then…"
"But we have to stop Ronan… the question is how we do it…" Rocket frowned.
"I have a plan," Quill declared.
"You do!?" Floor gasped.
"Didn't Rocket say he had a plan back during the Kyln just like that?" Teefs recalled.
"People say that all the time. It's not a unique thing to say," Quill pointed out.
"I don't believe he actually has a plan," Rocket scoffed.
"I have part of a plan!" Quill shouted.
"What percentage of a plan do you have?" Drax asked.
Gamora pointed at the destroyer. "You don't get to ask questions after the nonsense you pulled on Knowhere."
"I just saved Quill," Drax said.
"We already established that you destroying the ship I'm on is not saving me," Quill said pointedly.
"When did we establish this?" Drax questioned.
"About… three seconds ago," Lylla said helpfully.
"I wasn't listening. I was thinking of something else," Drax muttered.
Lylla sighed. "Quill, what percentage of a plan do you have?"
"I don't know. Twelve percent?" he answered.
"Twelve percent!?" Rocket exclaimed, before bursting out into hysterics.
"That's a fake laugh…" Quill frowned.
"It's real!" Rocket glared.
"Rocket not laugh very good," Floor nodded.
"That is the most real, authentic, hysterical laugh of my entire life because that is not a plan," Rocket defended himself.
"It's barely a concept," Gamora agreed.
"You're taking their side?" Quill gaped.
"I am Groot," Groot pointed out.
"So what if it's better than 11%? What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Rocket questioned.
"Thank you, Groot. Thank you," Quill said, clapping a hand on the tree-man's shoulder. "See? Groot's the only one of you who has a clue… Guys. Come on. Yondu is gonna be here in two seconds. He expects to hear this big plan of ours. I need your help. I look around at us… You know what I see? Losers."
"Well, that's not a nice thing to say…" Teefs frowned.
"No, I mean, folks who have lost stuff," Quill clarified. "And we have. Man, we have. All of us. Our homes, our families, normal lives. And usually, life takes more than it gives. But not today. Today, it's given us something. It's given us a chance."
"To do what?" Drax asked.
"To give a shit," Quill replied. "For once. To not run away. I, for one, and not gonna stand by and watch as Ronan wipes out billions of innocent lives."
"I get what you're saying, Quill, but stopping Ronan… if he has that Stone, it's impossible," Rocket sighed. "You're asking us to die."
Quill looked away for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I am…"
"Quill. I have loved most my life surrounded by my enemies. I will be grateful to die among friends," Gamora said, standing up from her seat.
Drax stood up next. "You are an honorable man, Quill. I will fight beside you. And in the end, I will see my wife and daughter again."
Groot took his stand. "I am Groot."
"I concur. If this is our last act, then let it be together with those I care about by my side," Teefs nodded.
"Floor fight for friends, Floor die for friends!" Floor declared.
"The galaxy needs us, and I will do anything to keep it and my family that lives in it safe," Lylla smiled. She turned and looked at Rocket.
The raccoon sighed, before giving his own smile and standing up. "What the hell. I don't got that long a lifespan anyways. If I'm going out, it's in a blaze of glory! …Well, I'm standing now. Happy?"
"Very much," Lylla giggled, putting her hand in as the others put theirs on top. "It's good to have friends, so let's save the galaxy, together!"
Author's Note
It's interesting to see how this Rocket's motivations work different with his friends around. He does more things out of a need to protect them and pushes others away to do so because he's afraid what further attachment could do to him. The rest of Batch 89 are there to help our favorite raccoon open up, though, and it's through them that Rocket finds his motivation to step up and be the hero we all know he can be. When he talks about not wanting to lose his friends, I imagine he's had nightmare about the High Evolutionary killing Floor, Teefs, and Lylla that fuel his need to protect them.
I have a question to all of my dear readers: Should I cover the "I Am Groot" shorts in this series? I'm covering the movies, Avenger crossovers, and Holiday Special already, but I wanted to know if you'd like to do the Groot shorts with Batch 89 as well? Give me your thoughts on that question and this chapter in a review/comment below!