AN: Happy 2024!
"With the team fully assembled, Star-Lord had come up with a desperate plan to stop Ronan and his galaxy conquering ambitions. Batch 89 were ready and willing to assist however they could, and soon a new force for good in the universe would be born…"
The plan to stop Ronan was fairly simple: while Rocket and Teefs would lead the Ravager fleet against Ronan's forces, Quill and Yondu would fly the rest of the team inside of Ronan's flagship, The Dark Aster, where after Gamora hacked the shields protecting Ronan, Quill would use the Hadron Enforcer to kill the accuser and get back the Power Stone. Quill would also put in a call to the Nova Corps to hopefully get their help as well, though Rocket figured they should be able to do this themselves in need-be… at least, he holped they did.
"This is a terrible plan," Gamora said.
"Hey, you're the one who said you wanted to die among friends," Quill reminded her.
Rocket looked up into the sky as Ronan's fleet came down, the raccoon in awe at the massive Kree warship. "Oh man, I wish we could have a ship like that…" he said.
"What would we do with all of that space, though?" Teefs asked.
"I dunno. I can have an entire hanger for making ships, you can make a workshop for your sculptures, Lylla can run a medical facility out of this thing, and Floor can… do whatever Floor would want to do," Rocket replied.
"Floor make indoor garden with Groot!" Floor replied over the coms.
"Sure, that works," Rocket shrugged.
"Can I just say that I love the new outfits we have," Lylla said, admiring the matching red Ravager jumpsuits she and the rest of the team were wearing. "I didn't know red was my color, but I quite like it."
"You were wearing pink before. Pink is a lighter shade of red," Drax pointed out.
"Can you folks stop clogging up the coms with your jabbering?" Yondu groaned. "Cannons, fire!" The two main gunships of the Ravager fleet shot out large energy pulses, creating a plasma barrier that acted as cover for the smaller warbird ships to fly underneath and get the jump on Ronan. Rocket and Teefs led two other ships to the designated area of The Dark Aster where they would blow a hole in the side for Quill and Yondu to enter through.
"There, right there!" Teefs called, pointing out on the scanners where Rocket should fire the guns. "And do hurry, Captain Rocket."
"We've got this, buddy," Rocket assured him as he started firing the cannons on the ship. The raccoon kept his focus on the epicenter of the firing area, even as The Dark Aster started moving out of the way. Once a hole was blown he shouted, "Quill, Yondu! Now!"
He turned the ship around and started firing on the Kress ships, taking out as many as he could to defend the hole for the others to enter. The plan started to go south, however, as Yondu's ship was shot down, leaving only Quill's team to complete the second part of the plan. "We won't make it, Rocket! There's just too many of them!" Gamora exclaimed.
The tide shifted again, however, as Nova ships suddenly arrived on the scene. Quill's message had worked! "Bucket heads here to help friends!" Floor cheered.
"Peter Quill. This is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps," the leader of the Nova fleet called. "For the record, I advised against trusting you here. Prove me wrong."
"They got my "dick" message!" Quill exclaimed.
"Let's punch it, Star-Lord!" Lylla cheered as Quill put the engines of the Milano into full throttle, blasting them through the hole Rocket had made. Drax started laughing as they skidded along the floor of the ship, Floor laughing along as the drifted to a stop within the bowels of the vessel. "Urp, I'm gonna need a moment to catch my breath…" Lylla wheezed, a bit green in the face from the rough landing.
"We're just like Kevin Bacon," Gamora said to Quill.
"Again, again!" Floor cheered as she hopped out of her seat.
Lylla readied her pistol as the team stepped out of the ship and into the darkness that surrounded them. "There's barely any light in here… Groot, if you could?"
The tree-man nodded, holding up his hand and releasing bioluminescent spores into the air, creating a light source for them to navigate the ship with. "Oh, pretty lights…" Floor said in awe.
"Since when could you do that?" Drax questioned.
"I'm pretty sure the answer is "I am Groot"," Quill replied.
"The flight deck is 300 meters this way," Gamora said, taking the lead as they went further into The Dark Aster.
"I want you all to know that I am grateful for your acceptance after my blunders," Drax said. "It is pleasing to once again have… friends. You, Quill, are my friend."
"Thanks," Quill replied.
"This dumb tree and his rodent companions, they are my friends," Drax continued.
"Um… thank you?" Lylla said, unsure of how to take Drax's "compliment."
"And this green whore, she to, is…"
"Oh, you must stop!" Gamora shouted.
It was then that a figure jumped down from the ceiling, a blue cyborg woman that Lylla couldn't recall seeing before, but guessed that they were probably one of Ronan's minions. "Gamora, look at what you have done," the woman said. "You have always been weak. You stupid, traitorous…"
"Cyborg lady!" Floor gasped, before rushing up to the woman and hopping around her with joy. "Have robot parts like Rocket Lylla Floor Teefs! So cool, just like Gamora! You friend of Gamora?"
"I am Nebula, little pest," the woman replied. "And Gamora is the one I called sister, before she betrayed us-"
"Floor want blue lady to be friends!" Floor said.
"Uh, Floor, I don't think she's the negotiating type…" Lylla said with worry.
Nebula tried to grab Floor, only for the rabbit to hop out of the way and use her spider legs to latch onto the cyborg woman. With a rapid series of taps Floor was able to lock up Nebula's cybernetic parts, which basically meant all of her body. With a simple tap Floor sent her tumbling down into the ship, with everyone else looking on in confusion and a slight sense of terror. "…What? Blue lady needed to calm down, so Floor make her calm down," Floor shrugged.
"Okay, remind me not to mess with the Monty Python rabbit…" Quill said as the group moved on with their plan.
"I wanted to use this weapon against the blue whore," Drax frowned. "But the little one is a great warrior, I'll admit."
"Maybe don't call every woman you don't like a whore, Drax…" Lylla sighed.
"Head to the flight deck. I'll shut down power to the security doors," Gamora said.
"Go with green lady! See Lylla Groot Quill Drax later!" Floor said, running off after Gamora. The duo soon found themselves where the controls for the security doors were, but they were not alone here. Apparently Nebula's internal systems were quick to undo the damage that both Floor's pressure point attacks and subsequent falling off of the walkway did, as the cyborg had beaten them to their destination.
"Nebula, please," Gamora pleaded, but her sister wouldn't listen, prompting the two to go head-to-head for who would gain access to the control panel. As that was happening, Lylla and the boys were making their way towards the control center when they were stopped by a hoard of warriors.
"Star-Lord!" the lead guard shouted.
Quill smirked. "Finally…" he said before a fight broke out. Lylla readied her blaster and started peppering the guards with blaster fire, while Quill started wrestling with the lead guard before Drax got his turn, but it was clear that the enemy was more experienced in fighting than they were expecting.
"You will never make it Ronan," the guard taunted.
"We'll see about that," Lylla said, holstering her blaster and grabbing a cylinder off of her belt. It was the special weapon Rocket had made for her in case she needed to fight in close combat, and now was a better time as any to use it. The otter pressed a button on the cylinder, extending it into a staff with electrical prongs coming off the end. She gave a battle cry before jabbing the weapon into the guard's leg, making him cry out in pain as hundreds of volts of electricity went through his body.
This gave Drax enough leverage to grab and throw the man against the wall before pinning him down. "Finger to the throat means death," the destroyer said before ripping out the man's cybernetic implants, killing him. Drax then looked to Quill and nodded, "Metaphor."
"Yeah, sorta," Quill shrugged.
"He'll get there someday…" Lylla said. "But it appears we have more enemies inbound."
The group turned to see more Kree soldiers coming at them, but Groot stepped forward to fight them off. The tree man stretched out his arm and skewered half of the guards on it before slamming them repeatedly into the walls, ceiling, floor, and other guards till all of them were no longer a threat.
Quill looked over to Lylla as Groot gave a war cry, the otter just giving a casual nod of approval as if Groot did this on the regular (which he did, but normally on bounty missions with Rocket). As soon as the soldiers were taken care of, Groot turned around and smiled at his friends, to which Lylla gave him a small golf clap. "Good job handling them, Groot," she praised, before the ship suddenly shook.
"Lylla, you there?" Teefs' voice called out over her earpiece.
"We're here, Teefs," Lylla replied.
"Quill, you gotta hurry. The city's been evacuated, but we're getting our asses kicked down here," Rocket said.
"Gamora and Floor are still working on the door controls, Rocky," Lylla said as she electrocuted another soldier.
Down in the door control room, Gamora and Nebula were still duking it out in a one-on-one sword battle, while Floor awkwardly watched from the sidelines. The rabbit idly stared out the hole that had been blow in the side of the ship, before looking to the control panel that the sisters had forgotten about. Floor hopped over to it and started pressing buttons, hoping that one of them would open the door her friends needed open. After many buttons being pressed (that may or may not have caused many Kree soldiers to die in hilarious ways by the ships own defenses) she decided to just stab the device with her knife, which somehow managed to open up the door Quill stood in front of. "Good job, Gamora!" Quill called.
"Floor do it all by herself!" Floor said proudly.
"…Wow, really? Great job, Floor," Rocket complimented.
The rabbit hummed happily to herself before turning back to Gamora and Nebula's fight, watching as Gamora kicked her sister out the hole in the side of the ship. "Nebula!" Gamora called, holding out her hand as the cyborg barely held on. "Sister, help us fight Ronan. You know he's crazy."
"I know you're both crazy," Nebula replied before cutting off her own hand, landing on a Ravager ship and commandeering it for her own use.
"Bye blue lady!" Floor shouted. "Does Gamora think Floor see blue lady again?"
"Knowing my sister, she'll be back," Gamora replied. "Let's get to the others." She picked up a fall guard's blaster and fired a hole into the ceiling, Floor hopping on her back as the two jumped up and started fighting there way to where the others were. Soon enough the team were all gathered in the command room where Ronan awaited them, the Power Stone shining on his accuser hammer.
"Quill, the Hadron Enforcer!" Lylla called, Star-Lord nodding as he lined up his shot and fired the weapon. The weapon hit Ronan dead on, creating a huge explosion that covered the room in smoke.
"You did it!" Drax cheered.
"Yes! Friends save galaxy from scary man!" Floor added.
Lylla was about to compliment the team as well before she looked and saw Ronan still standing, the Power Stone protecting him from the attack. The accuser lifted his hammer and fired a concussive blast at the team, blowing them all back with sheer force. Drax was the first back on his feet, running at Ronan at full speed. The accuser simply held out his hand and caught the destroyer by the throat, however, holding Drax in the air as he choked him out.
"I was mistaken. I do remember your family," Ronan said. "Their screams… pitiful…"
"Lylla, you guys better back up!" Rocket's voice called over the coms.
"Back up, what do you-?" Lylla questioned, before her eyes shrunk at the sight of a warbird being flow into the room, Rocket at the controls as he rammed right into Ronan. "Rocket…?" Lylla called out as dust settled around them.
"I've got him!" Teefs called, climbing out of the destroyed warbird and pulling the unconscious raccoon from the wreckage.
Lylla took hold of her mate's had as Teefs sat him down. "Good, he's still breathing normally," she sighed in relief.
"I don't see Ronan anywhere…" Teefs said as he and Gamora dragged Drax's body over to the rest of the team. "And I don't believe this ship is going to be staying in the air much longer, either."
It was then that Groot did something unexpected, holding out his arms as he grew branch after branch from his entire body, creating a cocoon around the team like a protective bubble. Rocket soon woke up to see the sight, Lylla helping him stand as the cocoon was lit up by bioluminescent seeds. "What is this…?" Teefs wonder.
"Groot protect friends?" Floor guested.
Rocket looked to his friend with worry. "No, Groot. You can't. You'll die," the raccoon said.
"Why are you doing this?" Lylla asked, tears coming to her eyes.
Groot gave a sad smile, reaching out a branch to wipe the tears from his friend's eyes. "We… are… Groot," he said as the world around them faded to white.
[***]
Lylla groaned as she regained consciousness, idly noticing that she was still alive and that they had crashed into Xandar. The smoldering ruins of The Dark Aster were strewn about as she sat up, seeing that the rest of the team were okay… save for Groot being nowhere to be see. "Rocket? Floor? Teefs?" she called out.
"Floor is… okay…" Floor called, the rabbit hobbling a bit on an obviously damaged leg. The crash had rendered her extra limbs usless, leaving Floor with only her bare paws and only one bionic leg to stand on.
"I'm fine as well…" Teefs shouted, the walrus pushing debris off himself as he dragged himself across the ground, his wheels having taken damage from the crash as well.
Lylla stood up, checking her person to find that her staff had been broken in two, the inner workings of it sparking. "Great…" she muttered, before looking around to find where Rocket was. The raccoon was on his knees, holding fragments of Groot's remains in his paws.
"I called him an idiot…" Rocket muttered to himself.
Lylla knelt next to him and gave him a hug. "Groot saved us… He's a hero…"
Movement behind them got the two to turn around to see Ronan walking out of the wreck, the Power Stone still shining on his hammer. "You killed Groot!" Rocket shouted, running at Ronan in a rage, only to get blasted back by the Power Stone. Lylla stood her ground and threw the remnants of her staff at the accuser, but Ronan blasted her away as well, sending the otter spiraling into Teefs.
"Behold: your guardians of the galaxy," Ronan said, mockingly gesturing to the team. "What fruit have they wrought? Only that my father and his father shall finally know vengeance…"
Rocket looked around and scrambled over to some broken tech parts, fiddling with him as his mind raced to come up with a plan. Ronan continued, "People of Xandar, the time has come to rejoice and renounce your poultry gods! Your salvation is at hand."
Ronan raised his hammer, the Power Stone charging up power… but then out of nowhere, Quill started singing of all things. "Oh, child… things are gonna get easier… Oh, child, things'll get brighter…Listen to these words."
"What is he doing?" Teefs whispered.
"He's singing!" Floor giggled.
"No…" Lylla looked over to see Rocket and Drax working on something. "He's distracting him…!"
"Oh, child… things are gonna get easier… Oh, child, things'll get brighter- Now bring it down hard!" Quill started dancing as he sang the words. "Someday! We'll put it together and we'll get it undone!"
"What are you doing?" Ronan questioned.
"Dance off, bro. Me and you," Quill replied as he rolled his hips to the song. He did a few moves before holding out a hand to Gamora. "Gamora…." She just shook her head in disbelief. "Subtle. Take it back."
"Oh, pick me, pick me!" Floor called as Quill pointed at her. The rabbit hopped a bit on her one good leg, singing along with the song. "Someday! We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun! Friend Lylla, you go next!"
"Uh…" Lylla awkwardly shuffled and waved her hands in the air. "Someday, when the world is much brighter…" Teefs hummed along and flapped his flippers a bit before passing it back to Quill.
"What are you doing?" Ronan repeated.
"I'm distracting you, ya big turd blossom," Quill answered.
Ronan turned around to see Drax holding the hastily put back together Hadron Enforcer, Rocket splicing two wires together to fire the weapon into Ronan's hammer. The world seemed to go in slow motion as Quill jumped for the Power Stone, Gamora shouting "No!" as his hands clasped around it, sending out a wave of power as dust whipped up around them.
"Is he crazy!? No mortal can hold an infinity stone like that!" Teefs exclaimed.
"We have to… help him…!" Lylla shouted over the storm as she slowly made her way over to Quill. The human was screaming out in pain as he held the Power Stone, his body slowly coming undone by its raw power.
"Peter! Grab my hand!" Gamora shouted to him.
"Mom…" Quill whispered.
"Take my hand!" Gamora repeated… and Quill took it, the Power Stone creating a connection between the two of them. Drax walked through the storm and put a hand on Quill's shoulder, taking on some of the power while Floor took Gamora's hand, sharing the burden as Teefs held her body with his flipper. Rocket reached out and held Drax's finger, Groot's branch still in his hand as Lylla held onto it, connecting all of them together.
The team hadn't known each other for very long, but all of them knew the stakes at hand. Even if the Power Stone destroyed them here, they couldn't let Ronan have it or let Xandar be destroyed, either. Groot gave his life to save them, so it was only fair that they gave theirs to save the galaxy. As they stood together, the power stopped hurting, becoming more controlled as Lylla felt the new bond they shared.
"Your mortal! How?" Ronan questioned as he looked at the team.
"You said it yourself, bitch. We're the Guardians of the Galaxy," Quill retorted, opening his hand as Ronan tried to attack them, using the Power Stone to wipe out the accuser in one blow. Once Ronan was gone, Gamora grabbed the Orb and slammed it over the Infinity Stone, safely containing its power once more. They had done it. The Guardians of the Galaxy had saved Xandar!
Author's Note
While not my favorite outfits for the team, the Ravager outfits are a nice "first team" look for the fledging Guardians of the Galaxy. Teefs joins Rocket in the warbird for defense while Lylla and Floor go inside with the rest of the team.
One thing I want to explore with Batch 89 is how they bond with the other Guardians members. Teefs and Drax are already forming something as the bruisers of the team, and for Floor I want her to look up to both Gamora and Nebula as the badass women they are. Rocket and Quill have their repertoire as usual, and for Lylla... well, she has a bond with Groot, but there is one team member that isn't in the first movie I'd like her to interact with once they join up.
Next time will be the wrap-up to Volume 1 before going into the next saga of the story. See you all then!
