Alright, back in action with this one cause I needed a bit of time from this story but after the last chapter it's high time we get back into the swing of things.
Last chapter was real fun and the reviews were great, especially towards the latter end.
And I can't believe I am saying this but now we're nearing the end of season 2 if you could believe it.
Only five, maybe six, more chapters to go.
And then we're entering the gap in between the seasons and then ONTO SEASON THREE.
Season Three… well when we get to it suffice to say there's a lot of crazy shit going down.
It's so close and yet so far all at once.
So it's best we get to it sooner than later.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.
Avengers Infinite Wars Chapter 44: Bounty Hunters of the Galaxy.
*CRASH*
"Are they still going at it?"
"I'd say let them have their fun. That last mission was a bit too easy."
"You sure about that boss?"
"Ah, they'll be fine Kraglin. Seriously, what exactly has stood up to us since coming here?"
"Not much really. Save for that… what was it called again? Rankie?"
"Ranchor."
"Right, that thing."
*BANG*
"THAT ALL YA GOT HORN HEAD?!"
"You meat bags are earning my respect for blindly jumping in towards your deaths. It is good to know some things have not changed after so long."
"Come face Death!"
"I am Groot."
A body was thrown across the bar, landing next to the three seated in their own booth.
"Gotta admit, glad to see Groot doing something other than playing that annoying game." A man in a maroon trench coat remarked playing with said game in his hands right now.
"Is that game even any good, Quill?"
"It's not too bad." Peter Quill, leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy said with a shrug. "It just makes you want to reach the high score for bragging rights."
"Can I give it a whirl?" Kraglin Obfonteri asked.
Peter grunted with a beeping sound indicating his loss.
"Eh, knock yourself out. I know I'll get this back sooner or later."
Beside the two, Gamora, daughter of the Mad Titan observed the bar room brawl with a blank expression.
This was sadly what her form of entertainment is for some time now. All she ever really done throughout her life, ever since being taken in by Thanos, was fight, kill and train. Even watching others kill and fight each other performed the same merit. It was all she could ever really enjoy with nothing else pleasing her.
Yet she couldn't help but listen to Quill's Earth music more and more now for the past few months as she watched Drax the Destroyer throw what was a Quarren through the roof.
And besides…
Much as she pretends not to show it, she does care for these band of idiots.
Even their newest member is starting to grow on her. He makes it known how much he reveres her skills and abilities, often lamenting his droid limitations in not being able to perform those abilities.
She watched as Rocket was atop a human, punching him in a "guiding" fashion until HK-47 was close enough to upper cut the man into unconsciousness.
Groot currently had an Ithorian ensnared and was thrashing him around, knocking him into others.
Gamora's eyes shifted over to a portion of the bar that was relatively unscathed for the most part.
There were a few patrons that were either ignoring the commotion or yelling at it encouragingly with credits in hands as the fight went on. Looking past them, Gamora's eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed upon the other Guardian not involved in the brawl.
Mantis sat within another booth with a curious and intrigued look upon her face as she traded conversations with an armored individual who had his helmet off. If memory serves her correctly, Quill mentioned Mantis speaking with someone of similar armor set.
This must be that Fenn Shysa Mantis spoke of that she had met a while back.
From what they had learned of within this galaxy, Fenn is part of this group called the Mandalorians.
A warrior culture it seemed.
Wonder what he was doing here?
He didn't seem to pose a threat or have any ill intentions towards Mantis.
And he better not.
Mantis was the most impressionable of the Guardians. Her relationship with Drax is a dead giveaway considering how much she takes literally from the knife wielding madman.
"Gamora?"
The Zehoberian blinked, looking over to Peter and Kraglin.
"Hmmm? What?"
"You alright there?" Kraglin asked. "Been looking over there with Mantis for a bit now."
"Just keeping an eye on her is all." Gamora said, leaning back into her seat. "Not a lot of people we have to trust here."
"Yeah, especially after that piece of crap Hutt wanted to screw us over." Peter grumbled.
Peter then grabbed his drink and leaned back as the Ithorian Groot had as a battering ram was finally thrown.
"Seems they're done right about now." Kraglin noted.
Peter and Gamora looked over to see Drax punch another merc out the bar and HK-47 bash his metallic hand upon the head of another.
Rocket was laughing with Groot grinning in triumph, the former of the two going over to the bar and tossing credits that he had stolen in the middle of the fight.
A few moments later drinks were out, more credits were passed around and business as usual returned to the bar.
"Who's paying for the cleanup this time?" Quill asked.
"I got it, boss." Kraglin spoke up. "It's my turn anyway."
They soon returned to their drinks as the bar returned to normal for the most part.
Rocket, Groot and Drax were toasting while HK… poured oil on himself.
Sure, that's normal for him.
Gamora briefly glanced over to Mantis and her Mandalorian friend who appeared to be speaking with someone else.
She saw him holding a transmitter with a small projection of another armored Mandalorian when...
"May I pardon you fine folks for some of your time?"
The booth's occupants looked over and saw a being of short stature, with thick legs and four-fingered hands. He had an elongated head with a reptilian face, which Peter reminded him of a tortoise back on Earth, with the beady eyes shown underneath the goggles. And the being's skin was of a light orange pigmentation.
If the Guardians remembered correctly, the being who approached them was a Felucian. They had seen this species wandering about within Mos Eisley not too long ago.
"Maybe… depends on what you want to talk to us about." Quill said in a conversational tone.
"I… I've been hearing about your group." The Felucian spoke in a nervous manner. "You call yourselves the G-Guardians of the Galaxy, correct?"
"For the most part." Kraglin replied.
"Then please, I beg for your aid." The Felucian said in a desperate tone. "I don't know who else to turn to. I don't know if my friend managed to find anybody else here."
Gamora shared a look with the other two before turning back to the man before them.
"What's your job?" she asked.
"Pirates." The Felucian replied quickly. "Pirates have been harassing my village for a while now."
"Pirates?" Quill repeated. "That doesn't sound too bad."
"If we don't give the pirates a portion of our crop, they will destroy our homes, with us in them."
"...Ok that sounds pretty bad." Quill admitted.
"And what are your crops?" Gamora inquired.
"It goes by a few names: nysillim, sillum and nysillin."
"I think I mighta heard of them." Kraglin said, rubbing his scruff. "Aren't they really potent healing herbs?"
"Might be the only export the natives have for their businesses, given it's very valuable in this galaxy."
"Sillim farming is actually a meager trade. But without our herbs to sell, we will have no money for food, fuel or equipment."
"I can see your dilemma." Gamora said kindly. "Yet you have enough to pay for mercenaries?"
"One needs to haggle a reasonable price for compensation, something far better than the pirates." The Felucian stated.
"Inquiry: Why not just fight them yourselves?" Said HK-47.
The Felucian jumped in fright, looking behind him at the droid that appeared behind him. Rocket, Drax and Groot had returned to the booth as well.
"Easy for you, perhaps, but look at me." The Alien gestured to himself. "I, along with my fellow farmers, are not fighters."
"Statement: One does not need size to be an effective fighter." HK declared, looking down to Rocket who puffed his chest out with a roguish grin in place.
It was at this point that Mantis had returned to the fold.
"Hey everyone, what are we doing?" She asked politely.
"Deciding on whether or not we should help short stack here." Rocket said gesturing his head at the Felucian.
"I am Groot."
The group chortled, making Rocket growl in irritation at the larger tree alien.
Gamora quickly helped Mantis catch up to speed with their current situation.
"Oh~" Mantis's antenna hung low in sorrow. "Can we not help them?"
"That's what we're deciding on, Mantis." Kraglin stated.
"These are farmers, they do need help." Mantis pleaded.
"Believe me, Mantis, I would like nothing more, but didn't we already take on another job?" Quill pointed out. "We can't go at half strength. Pretty sure the Protectors wouldn't appreciate us bailing on them."
"Maybe not all of us can go with the Mando's." Gamora stated.
"Excuse me?" Quill looked at her.
"There's already enough of us here that greatly alter things for our next gig. Or not doing much impact at all, given the amount of Mando's there are." Gamora pointed out.
"So what? Split up." Kraglin asked with Quill answering.
"Pretty much, yeah."
"...Could help getting more money for us." Rocket remarked.
"Remember, they are farmers, Rocket." Quill said in a deadpan.
"Yeah, I know that, Quill. But their crops can fetch a nice price if we sell 'em right." Rocket pointed out.
"And we do need to restock on our medicine." Drax added making the Guardians blink.
"That too." Kraglin agreed.
"Alright, so how are we doing this then?" Quill asked.
"Statement: I would not mind assisting these smaller creatures in displaying my Meatbag killing capabilities." HK-47 said, making the Felucian look up at the droid nervously.
"Guess that means I'm coming to." Peter said in a dry tone. "Someone's gotta keep you from going overboard."
"I shall be going with the Mandalorians." Drax declared. "I wish to observe their warrior ways."
"I am Groot."
"No, no." Rocket pointed at Groot. "If you're gonna go with the Protectors then that means no video games."
"I am Groot!" Groot said in an affronted manner.
"Then start acting like it." Rocket shot back. "That game is nothing but gunk on your mind."
Groot only huffed in irritation.
"I'll go with the Mando's, boss." Kraglin said to Peter with the GOTG leader nodding in approval.
"So Rocket, HK and I are gonna go with the farmer here." Peter said. "Gamora?"
"I'll go with you." Gamora said to him. "Make sure we keep these two in line."
"Disappointed tone: Master Gamora, do you not trust in my capabilities?" HK said, synthetic tone displaying heartbreak.
Heartbreak that Gamora did not fall for. "It's not your skills I'm worried about, HK, and you know it."
"Disgruntled sigh: Curses, I can't get past anything with you Gamora."
"Keep up the flattery." Gamora said, standing up out of her seat. "Maybe it'll work one day. Let's get ready everyone."
The Guardians of the Galaxy split off into their two teams, Kraglin, Drax, Mantis and Groot going over to Fenn Shysa who was waiting for them at the main entrance of the bar.
It was strange when one considers the chance encounter Mantis had with the Mandalorian to eventually turn into several occasions of run-ins on other planets that started to develop into a working relationship with these group of warriors called the Protectors.
This here would be their fifth job they had done together.
The other four followed the Felucian out the back.
"You have your own means of transport?" The Felucian asked.
"Yeah, this way."
-Scene Cut-
The Benatar exited hyperspace, flying toward the planet of Felucia.
Since coming to this galaxy, they had learned that this place did not have the Universal Neural Teleportation Network that connected a majority of the universe.
Instead, they had something called Hyperspace here as their source of FTL.
So they needed to get one for their ships the Quadrant and the several M-Ships they have within the larger ship.
Thankfully, with a pair like Kraglin and Rocket on the team along with HK-47 to point them in the right direction, the Quadrant, Benatar and all the other M-Ships were properly fitted with Hyper drives.
They drew closer to the planet when they noticed some sort of satellite in orbit around the planet.
"What's that?" Quill asked, squinting at the strange object.
Their client and planet native gasped aloud. "Oh no! I completely forgot! That's a Separatist defense probe!"
"Meaning?" Rocket looked to the Felucian with an expectant look.
"If it does not recognize you as an ally it may deploy starfighters in response against you."
"Relieved statement: I thought it may have had sensible defensive measures." HK-47 responded, remaining in his seat.
This certainly threw off their client as he watched them get a bit more comfortable in their seats just as the strange probe up ahead deployed five Vulture Droids.
"Just five?" Peter scoffed with an amused grin.
"They clearly haven't heard of our run-in with those gold-skinned Sovereign Douchebags."
"Remember, we are in a whole other galaxy. So these Seps wouldn't know 'em." Gamora pointed out.
"Good." Rocket's grin was manic. "Which means we got a fresh new pallet for a brand new rep with these bozos."
Before their Felucian client could voice his recently formed inquiry, Rocket and Peter went into action.
Quill thrusted his controls forward at full speed with Rocket letting out an uproarious bellow of a war cry as he began firing the Benatar's weapons.
In an instant, two of the Vulture droids were shot down while the other three scrambled around the ship before redirecting themselves in pursuit.
"Hey, they look like they're about to line up." Quill pointed out.
"Good to know." Rocket flicked a few switches up and targeted the three Vulture droid ships that were getting closer to theirs.
The instant he had a lock on them, he attacked. The guns on the sides of their ship fired, shooting several rounds that punched through the Vulture droids. The enhanced racoon laughed seeing the spectacle.
"Ha! Too easy!"
"Hey, don't hog all of them for yourself."
"Bite me, Quill."
"Oh for the love of- do NOT do this again you two. I already had to deal with that once and you remember how that turned out."
"Relax, Gamora." Rocket scoffed. "It's just us shooting the shit."
Gamora looked to Quill with him confirming it with a so-and-so expression. Frowning slightly, she leaned back into her seat while they descended down to the planet's surface.
With directions given to them by their client, the Guardians arrived at the edge of a village with the Benatar touching down upon the ground.
"Here we are." the client rushed out of the ship and ran towards the village.
The four Guardians exited the ship and walked through the front of the gate of the village, taking note of the village huts with one particularly large building.
As they entered the village, one thing stood out to them.
"This place looks deserted." Quill stated, looking around.
"I don't think so." Gamora said, glancing at the pink, spud-like plants. "The crops seem to be ready to be harvested. Not to mention the equipment is all lying about."
"Then where is everyone?" Rocket asked aloud, going over to one of the crops and poking it with a finger.
"Hope our client remembers to tell us what's going on beforehand." Quill remarked. "Hate to see if the pirates already came by and did their work."
"If they did, we would've seen a one sided skirmish, let alone bodies." Gamora said, crossing her arms.
"Well there ain't no bodies." Rocket said, inspecting a farming tool. "Just this crap."
"Query: Then where are the villagers?" HK-47 said.
"And where'd Murris go?" Gamora added, looking around the village once again.
"If there's anything I remember about farmers and the greatest movie of all time, Footloose, always check the barn." Quill said knowingly.
They walked up to the largest building, which was now identified as the barn, going over to a control panel.
With a quick push of a button, the barn door opened up to reveal…
"That's not a ship for a farmer." Gamora said straight away.
"No." Rocket's eyes quickly analyzed the ship. "That's a bounty hunters ship."
"So there are bounty hunters here then?" Quill murmured.
"Then why hire us?" HK asked the question they all shared.
Before they could speak further, they heard a commotion going on coming from one of the huts nearby.
"Stay here you two." Quill said to HK and Gamora, gesturing his head towards the hut while locking eyes with Rocket.
The smaller Guardian nodded and the two approached the hut and entered.
They looked around the relatively small abode until Rocket noticed a small hatch. He snapped his fingers, gaining Peter's attention and pointed at the door on the ground.
Pulling out one of his Quad blasters, Star-Lord hovered above the hatch just as Rocket grasped the handle…
They both paused for a moment until Rocket threw the hatch open with Quill holding up his weapon with Rocket quickly pulling out his own.
Taking a moment, they realized that those hiding inside were Felucians.
"Found them." Quill muttered, quickly stowing away his weapon. "Some of them at least."
Rocket took a moment to gauge at the three Felucians inside their hiding space. "Damn, they're really terrified."
Quill frowned, crouching down to them with his hands raised.
"Hey, it's alright. We're not here to hurt you."
*CLICK*
"Kindly drop your weapons."
"But they'll hurt us." Rocket said in a flat tone.
Both turned to see four individuals standing before them.
A Zabrak female had her blaster pointed straight at Peter's head. Next to her was a tall alien with a crossbow and a large circular hat.
On the other side of the Zabrak female was a female of species known as Frenk.
Behind them all was a large, heavily armored individual with two white eyes seen in between its visor.
"Take it easy. We aren't here to cause trouble." Quill said, hands up.
"Easy for you to say Quill." Rocket said, grasping his weapon tightly.
The one with the large hat spoke in its native language yet Rocket appeared to understand clearly.
"It's not always about the numbers." Rocket said, crooked grin in place.
"Four on one is hardly a fair fight." the Frenk female responded.
"Wait a minute... Four on one?" Rocket asked out loud. "What, Quill doesn't count?"
The Zabrak, guessing that Quill was the human, chortled in amusement.
"We don't count you, knee-high." The armored individual said, voice slightly mechanical.
Rocket snorted. "Well that's something I haven't heard in a long while. Got anything new, tin-man?"
Suddenly, the Zabrak felt the tip of a blade from the back of her neck with the cocking of another weapon.
"Do you count us?" Gamora said coldly, her form steady.
"Who are you people?" The Zabrak asked, keeping her gaze upon Quill.
"We were sent by Murris." Peter answered. "Something about pirates harassing his village."
The Zabrak frowned. "That is why we are here as well."
This of course stirred a slight bit of confusion though Rocket wasn't one to stay silent.
"Maybe we got our jobs mixed up." He said.
"Maybe." Said the Zabrak.
"Or maybe he realized you guys wouldn't cut it and knew we're a better alternative." Rocket quickly added with a savage grin making the other four bounty hunters bristle.
"Rocket." Gamora said warningly.
"What? I'm just saying."
"Wait, wait!" Suddenly, another Felucian rushed in with their original client Murris with him. "Please stop, they were brought here by my brother. Sugi, please put your weapons away."
The Zabrak complied, though she rounded upon the more elder Felucian with an expectant look.
"Need I remind you, Casiss, you already made a deal with us?" the now identified "Sugi" stated.
"I did." Casiss said. "But I had also sent out Murris in case we were able to recruit more. Murris has already told me that a deal has been worked out with these individuals that would not affect your pay in any way shape or form."
Slowly, the weapons from both sides were lowered.
"Alright then." Sugi crossed her arms, looking to Quill. "And who are you all supposed to be anyway?"
Peter looked at Gamora for a moment then back at Sugi, shrugging his shoulders. "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy."
The Bounty Hunters shared a collective blink.
"What now?"
Introductions were shortly made once things settled down.
The collective of the eight hired mercs were now seated within a more spacious dining room inside Casiss' own home.
Sugi, the Zabrak, was the leader of this band of bounty hunters.
With her was Embo Kyuzo, Rumi Paramita the Frenk and Seripas… the walking armored guy.
"The Guardians of the Galaxy?" Sugi said, an unimpressed look, opposite to Peter and Gamora.
"Well it wasn't our idea." Peter admitted.
"Oh yeah, I forgot it was that prick Ronan who gave us that name." Rocket said, appearing to work on something within his gun.
"So what? What is your group exactly then?" Rumi inquired.
"Statement: We are a collective of highly efficient killers that lean upon the more noble side of morality." HK-47 responded with Rocket openly guffawing.
"Shit, that's one way of putting it."
Rocket and HK received an annoyed look from Gamora with Quill trying hard to stifle his own laughs.
HK did have a point in that regard when one considers all of their history collectively with all the messed up things they've done.
"Can we get down to business please." Gamora said, brokering a tone that held no room for arguments.
"Casiss." Gamora began. "What exactly are we dealing with these pirates that Murris mentioned?"
Casiss glanced down, expression showing he was deep in thought.
"We've been dealing with these pirates for only a short time." Casiss said with a grim tone. "But in that time, they have taken half our crops and more leaving us with practically nothing in terms of trade and resources. We need the Sillum as our primary means of getting currency, tools and food. With these pirates, we will starve and suffer so long as they remain here."
Casiss then regarded the large group before him.
"But now, with the eight of you here, there's a chance for us to drive those ghastly pirates off."
Mumbled something under his breath, making Gamora look to him.
"What was that Peter?" She asked.
"Nothing, nothing." Waved off the human Guardian. "Kurosawa would be annoyed by the even number."
Everyone else stared at utter bewilderment at the human with HK speaking up.
"Comment: Don't mind Master Quill. I have come to realize he says a lot of things from his home planet that… what was that phrase? fly over our heads? Yes, that. You get used to it."
"Speaking of numbers; gotta admit, how the hell can you afford eight of us?" Sugi questioned the Felucian.
"You have all given us a much better deal than those pirates." Casiss said plainly.
"At least we can get a deal with you." Murris spoke up. "The Pirates basically threaten us and that's their version of a 'deal'."
Rocket hummed aloud in thought. "What'd they offer you?"
"An agreeable pay." Sugi said. "You?"
"A small cut of the Sillum."
"What's a small cut?" Rumi inquired.
"Some seeds." Gamora said.
"Seeds?" The Mech bounty hunter said in complete surprise.
"You'd be surprised on how much you could grow with them." Rocket said with a small grin.
This wasn't far from the truth there is. After some discussion with their client, they came down to obtaining nothing but a large container of the Sillim seeds. With some little tender love and care -aka, Groot's plant manipulation- they would be able to grow a large amount of Sillim on their own. From there, they harvest the seeds from the grown batch, rinse and repeat the process over and over again. Granted it'll be a long process before they make a profit, but it's a start.
Embo then spoke with his native tongue making Sugi look at him.
"We're not farmers, Embo." Sugi said in a dry tone. "And we've already made a deal. I'd rather not break it."
"Still…" Rumi eyed the four Guardians. "Why just seeds? It would take time to grow something like that."
"Sly Statement: We have our ways."
"We're a bit of a patient bunch."
Quill snorted a little on Rocket's statement. "Moving on…" Star-Lord faced the head of the village. "What's our numbers like? How many of these pirates do you usually see?"
"A few dozen at a time." Casiss said.
"And in total?"
"Several dozen. Possibly even more." Casiss's expression then turned anxious. "But last time, they did not come just as they were."
"They got new muscle?" Rocket asked.
"Droids." Murris replied. "Droids the like we haven't seen before. They could fly and their arms could transform into weapons!"
"Transform?" Quill perked up. "Like… like the Decepticons and autobots?"
Gamora rubbed the bridge of her nose, exhaling a sigh of frustration.
"That'd actually be pretty cool." Rocket admitted, actually knowing what Peter was alluding to for once.
"The droids." Sugi said, tone serious. "Describe them. What are they like?"
"They looked… different." Casiss said, frowning a bit as he recalled these new droids. "When the war came to Felucia, we saw a number of droids from the Separatists. But the ones the pirate brought; they were… strange."
"Strange, how?"
"They were not like any droid I had ever seen." Casiss stated. "The way they move and operate, it's highly unusual. I just can't properly describe it."
"Probably new models." Rocket muttered out. "Pirates would have hijacked a ship carrying them to who knows where and repurposed them. Would be the more sensible idea for added muscle these days."
"I've seen some of those Separatist droids before and they're not usually made with the best materials." Murris brought up. "They're cheap and mass produced. These were top of the line from how they were designed. Not even Bounty Hunting droids are that well made."
This of course was a rather interesting detail with the bounty hunters and Guardians exchanging looks with each other when…
"PIRATES!"
The eight hired guns jolted upwards at the sound of a child from outside yelling that the pirates were coming.
Weapons drawn and at the ready, everyone rushed outside just in time to see a young Felucian child rushing right towards them.
"The pirates are back." the kid said, pointing back from the direction he ran from.
Star-Lord squinted, pressing on his earpiece behind his right ear. A moment later, his helmet formed around his head which certainly caught the attention of the Bounty Hunters. They had never seen something like that before.
However, they'd have to ask him about that another time as they heard the sound of speeder bikes drawing near.
Racing down the hill, the assembled group saw the pirates entering the village perimeter. They halted their speeder bikes just a few feet away from them. And it didn't take long for the bounty hunters to see the pirates were composed of nothing but Weequay.
As they drew closer, HK however picked up on something in the air and looked up, something that did not go unnoticed by Gamora.
She looked up to see two metallic forms in the air, flying over the Weequay pirates. Landing down in between the two groups were a pair of droids, no doubt the ones Casiss mentioned earlier.
They were humanoid in build with their plating being a dull silver in color. From the sides of their heads were spikey prongs acting like ears. And the lights coming off from certain limbs and their heads were glowing an eerie red color.
When gazing upon them, Peter had a chill running down his spine. He almost thought they were legitimate T-800's from the Terminator film he saw as a kid.
"That's far enough." Said Sugi, brandishing her blaster. "I speak for the people of this village. State your name and business."
"My name is my own business." Said one of the Weequay pirates.
"Wait? Is your name really that? 'My own business'?" Quill practically snorted. "Wow your parents must not have been creative there when naming you."
"Can't be any worse than 'Taserface'." Rocket commented.
The pirate dubbed 'My own business' practically growled at the insult. It didn't help when the fellow pirates beside him snickered.
"We are here to take back what's ours?"
"Query: Does it have your name on it, Meatbag?" Said HK-47, voice condescending.
"How about I put my name on you, droid." The pirate growled irritably.
"Cheerful: I'd like to see you try Meatbag."
"You best get out of our way. We're here to take what's ours."
"There is nothing here that's yours, unless you're here to buy it." Sugi stated in a firm tone.
"Buy it?" A voice laughed out loud. "Guardians… I can't believe you came all this way to see me."
This drew in the present Guardians to focus their attention to a man walking in from the back. When he came up to the front, they saw an all too familiar Weequay male with a Kowakian monkey-lizard perched on his shoulder.
"Hondo? The hell are you doing here?" Rocket questioned.
The female Zabrak looked back and stared at the Guardians. "You know each other?"
Hondo smiled brightly. "Of course we do! Tell them how far back we go, Quill."
"Not all that far, I'm afraid." Peter drawled out.
"Hah! And here I thought we were friends."
"If you're truly interested in being friends, Hondo, I highly suggest you stop threatening these farmers." Gamora said firmly.
Hondo gasped in a mocking manner. "Oh! Please tell me you have not been listening to these bounty-hunting scum."
"Scum? What does that make us?" Rocket questioned.
"Statement: Acquaintances, if we're being polite."
"I wouldn't even put it that far." Quill remarked, arms crossed with an annoyed expression revealed as his helmet retracted.
"Well these scum, as you it, are here to help them protect what's rightfully theirs." Sugi informed the pirate lord.
"Oh, come, come, my dear. How much are they paying you?" Before an answer could be given, Hondo quickly ended it. "Bup, bup, bup! Does not matter. Whatever it is, I will double it, and all you have to do to earn it is… step aside."
The Zabrak bounty hunter responded back to him as she jabbed her finger into his chest. "We. Don't. Break. Deals."
This got the rest of Hondo's men to quickly aim their weapons at the bounty hunters. In turn, the bounty hunters did the same.
Hondo however paused as he felt a blade to his neck, eyeing the most dangerous woman in the galaxy.
"You do not want a repeat of last time Hondo." Gamora threatened in a low tone.
Much as he had tried to hide it, Hondo visibly shifted about uncomfortably. He gazed at the sword and then at the other three Guardians while also searching for...
'Oh, looks like not all are present?' Hondo thought to himself.
The pirate captain chuckled aloud, looking over to the two droids that came with him. Shortly after, the two droids lifted their arms. Said limbs shifted and turned from the elbow down into what appeared to be railgun-like blasters.
Immediately, the Guardians and the bounty hunters had their weapons raised with the pirates following suit once more.
It was now a standoff.
Hondo locked eyes with Gamora.
"Do you really wish to test me right now, my dear?"
"In case you forgot, not even the best of what you have put a scratch on me." Gamora reminded him.
"Yes, yes, I know how tough you and your enhanced friends are." Hondo nodded. "But are they?"
The droids then shifted their aim towards the villagers with Embo and Star-Lord stepping in between them.
Ohnaka hummed aloud in thought, regarding the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
"What's your stake anyways, Quill?" Hondo asked. "This does not seem to be your usual type of job."
"Sorry Hondo, but Guardians is in the name of my team." Quill said with his hands hovering over his Quad blasters. "Aside from pay… kinda have a moral obligation to help out those in need."
Hondo snorted with a small sneer. "I prefer Jedi. Maybe Kenobi would have at least offered me a better deal."
"Tough luck." Rocket snarked. "We're not these "Jedi" you wanted."
"Besides, they would have been far more annoying." HK added. "With their personal restrictions and rules. Can never get the job done properly."
"Yes~" Hondo nodded. "But at the very least, Greed isn't on their mind when assisting others."
The Pirate captain made sure for Rocket to hear that specific tidbit.
"I think you pirate douchebags are the last to talk to me about morality."
Chuckling once again, Hondo pulled out some feed for his Kowakian monkey-lizard. As it dug into the little snack, the pirate lord spoke up. "You know, even though we got off on the wrong foot, I like you and the rest of your Guardian pals. Always up for a good drink and can make the more… better judgements when the time comes. However, Quill… um, no one leaves this planet until I get my Sillim."
"Then I hope you enjoy it here, because you'll be staying a long time, parasite!" Sugi informed with a harsh growl.
Hondo brushed off the threat like it was nothing. "You know, this crop has not been harvested." He turned around and faced Casiss. "You better hurry, old man, before things start to, uh, die on you?"
With his threat given, the pirate lord made his way towards his speeder bike before he and his men took off and went back towards their ship. The Terminator-like droids followed suit, shifting their arms yet again. Once done, thrusters ignited from both their palms and feet before taking off into the air to follow the Weequay pirates.
They watched as the pirates departed, waiting until they were out of sight and sound until they relaxed and had placed their weapons away.
"We got a lot of work to do." Peter said aloud, having no arguments from that accurate comment.
Soon after, the Guardians and bounty hunters were gathered within a room all surrounding a holo-table that displayed the village and area they inhabited.
"When the attack comes, we have two fronts to worry about: the forest to the south and the ridge to the north." Peter said, pointing to both sections. "Whatever we gotta do, both sides need to be defended. Or else they'll pincer us in."
"Make that three fronts." Gamora added in. "Don't forget those droids. They merely brought in the factor an aerial assault could take place."
"Quill and I can handle those." Rocket said, patting on his vest that had one of his aero-rigs attached to the cloth. "HK, I have two spares if you're up for some air superiority."
"Adulation: Yes please. I'm always looking for new means of diversifying my capabilities in killing. Death from above is one that I have not performed yet."
"That… is rather unsettling." Rumi muttered out as she eyed the assassin droid.
"What are you even talking about?" Sugi asked.
"We'll show you later." Gamora interjected. "Right now, we need to make sure we get our plan right otherwise we'll be outnumbered and outmaneuvered."
"But there are only eight of you?" One of the Felucians sitting in on this meeting spoke up. "How can eight bounty hunters defend against so many?"
"Strength isn't always about the greater numbers. It's mostly how you actually use the few you have." Spoke Thanos' adopted daughter.
Embo spoke in his native tongue making Rocket chortle.
"Yeah, speak for yourselves Hat man." Rocket said boastfully. "A couple of pirates is nothing but a cake walk for us."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Serapis asked in an indignant tone.
"What do you think it meant?" Rocket shot back challengingly only for him to get yanked back by Gamora.
"You seem to lack confidence in our abilities." Sugi noted with an accusatory tone.
"It's not that." Quill said, giving Rocket a stare to not interrupt him. "It's just that we're probably facing a large number of foes. It's not that we can't handle them. It's just they may take advantage and attack the villagers."
"Query: Then why don't they just defend themselves? It is not as difficult a task as you portray."
"That's it! We'll just train the villagers to defend themselves." Peter said with an eager expression.
"Peter said what now?" Rocket said in surprise.
"But we are just simple farmers. Why are we paying bounty hunters to defend us if we are just going to end up doing it ourselves?"
"Hush, Dilanni." Casiss chided.
"Observation: If a creature as small as my ally Rocket can prove to be a threat to creatures ten times his size, we can show you how to do the same."
"He's not wrong there." Quill murmured.
"Query: Master Quill, please allow me to assist you in their training. I have many forms of combat and assassination protocols that I can gladly bestow upon these tiny meatbags."
"Let's… not go that far." Peter said with a grimace.
"How can you be so confident in this?" Casiss asked. "What if we will be unprepared for those pirates?"
"Trust me. We'll have you ready." Star-Lord said with a confident tone.
In the hours following the formation of their planning, the assembled bounty hunters were starting to work in various parts of the land. For a handful of them, they were tasked in clearing the fields of the crops. With how things might turn out, it's better to take care of them now, rather than salvaging the remains when the conflict with Hondo and his forces were taken care of.
"Put it all in the barn, every bushel." Sugi instructed the farmers as the farm tractors went to plow the fields.
With a dozen of farmers loading the gathered Sillim into their central barn, another three dozen were formed up in front of Gamora.
"Alright, everyone, form up." Gamora ordered the Felucians before her.
The farmers looked at each other quizzically, not sure what to do.
Gamora huffed. "Divide into rows of five."
Instead of lines, the farmers ended up forming small… bundles, making their instructor rub the bridge of her nose.
"I told you, we are not soldiers. We don't even have weapons." Dilanni said aloud.
Eyeing the farming staves in their grasp, Gamora went up to one of the farmers. "May I?" She asked politely.
Once the stave was in her grasp, she stepped back and started to move it around to get a feel of it. After a few moments, she started to spin and twirl it with precision and speed. At the end, she smiled before handing the farming stave back.
"These will work just fine."
Rocket was moving about, tossing out disks here and there while keeping his eyes up at the sky. Eyes narrowed, he returned to his work while calling Rumi over.
HK-47 was with several Felucians who had slingshots and showed them how to utilize them properly.
Over by the large barn, Peter and Sugi were looking over the structure as more of the Sillim was piled in.
"We could get overwhelmed by their numbers." Quill pointed out. "Some will definitely try to blow past us and make a beeline for the barn. Think there's enough space here for a defensive position."
"There's room." Sugi. said.
"Why not just get your ship out of the way? Or use it?"
"And risk it getting destroyed? No thank you."
"You know we have our own."
Sugi didn't respond, instead pointing toward the barn as another pair of villagers carried a block of Sillim inside.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Quill suddenly asked, making Sugi turn to him with a raised brow.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing, it's just…"
"You think I'm only worried about my profit, is that it?" Sugi cut him off.
"Well… not gonna lie, kinda." Peter admitted. "I've had to deal with the receiving end of that scenario plenty of times."
"I'll have you know that I'm not as much of a backstabber as you may think."
"Hey, not judging."
Yet Sugi pressed on.
"So in your mind, I'm just like any other pirate?"
"Eh, I wouldn't go that far." Peter stated. "Listen, I've done some shitty stuff myself in life that I'm not exactly proud of. We all have?"
"We?"
"My team. The Guardians of the Galaxy." Peter clarified. "All of us and I mean all of us have done a lot of messed up shit that ain't exactly something that would make most folks sleep well at night."
Sugi wasn't exactly sure how to respond to this.
"Look… I know we're all here for some pay and all that crap but we gotta work together on this." Peter said and he pulled out a disk from his pocket. "Here, I still got my boots so this is my spare."
Sugi gazed at the small disk.
"And what's this supposed to be?"
"Aero-Rig." Quill said. "You slap it on your chest or back and bam, instant flight."
Sugi held it up to inspect it. "This gives me flight?"
"Yeah." Quill said. "We actually noticed this galaxy doesn't have the stuff we normally encounter."
That got Sugi's immediate attention. "This Galaxy?"
Peter blinked before gaping and closing his mouth several times. "Oh… yeah… uh, ya see…"
"Quill."
Peter internally breathed a sigh of relief. He really didn't want to explain this right about now. Not that he was adverse to it, it's just that specific topic would take a long time to elaborate.
"What?"
"What music we got back on the ship?" Rocket asked.
"What are ya looking for? Something peppy?"
"Yeah, yeah like that Aqua Sky."
"Blue sky." Quill said, quickly walking away from Sugi to join Rocket.
The Zabrak had her face scrunched up with her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
She wanted answers right about now after that slip up about the galaxy. Whatever it was he meant.
But right now, she'd have to press those questions down for another day.
Right now, she had a job to do and she'd see it through to the end.
Back with Gamora, she was taking a break from training the initial group of farmers from earlier. Embo was currently taking her place while she went into the forest nearby, taking a stroll through the grounds, surveying for any forms of defensive measures from the natural landscape.
The fauna seemed sturdy in appearance for the most part. Could work as good barriers both in the air and on the ground.
Gamora eventually saw Seripas cutting through the fungal tree with a bandsaw coming out of his arm. When it started to fall over, the armored man quickly snatched it but she saw he was starting to struggle holding it up.
Wordlessly, Gamora ran forward and pulled out her sword. With a single swing, she cut the tree in two and alleviated a great deal of weight from the mechanical body.
Though Serapis managed to get the large fungus off of him, he began jolting about erratically.
"Seripas?" Gamora said in concern.
All of a sudden, the headpiece of the suit popped up, revealing a small alien piloting the body.
"D-Don't look. I-I'm having a suit malfunction." Stammered the little alien.
The occupant in the robotic body started fiddling around with the controls, hoping it can get back to normal. However, by this point, it was too late as the small alien saw the look the green-skinned warrior gave him.
The real Serapis sighed in defeat. "Not very intimidating, am I?
Gamora only gave him a small encouraging smile.
"Size isn't everything, Serapis." Gamora said. "You'd be surprised at some of the giants my team and I have seen that we've taken down. Wanna know how we did that?"
He looked up to her as she tapped the side of her head. "Intelligence goes a long way."
She then patted the mechanical body he had operated making him look up to her with an appreciative expression.
Re-entering his mech, the top part closed around him with him placing his right arm over his chest.
"I thank you for your help."
The two parted ways soon after, resuming their assigned tasks in preparing the village for battle.
When Gamora returned to where Embo was training the farmers, she saw one of them throwing his farming tool to the ground in utter frustration.
"The bounty hunter is right. Every minute you waste teaching us to twirl these stupid poles is time you could have spent beating those pirates yourself." Delanni complained aloud, tossing his staff down.
"And what good would that do you?" Gamora asked challengingly. "Another band of pirates would inevitably come along. Or do you intend to give away part of your crop every harvest season?"
"If you make us do this, there won't be another harvest season!"
"With that attitude, that might just happen." Rocket remarked, now joining in on the little training session. "You do realize you guys are prime targets for assholes like Hondo and his band of idiots, right?"
Delanni only huffed, tossing his staff aside making the other Felucians look about, unsure of what to do.
The daughter of Thanos only stomped her foot, getting everyone to look back at her.
"Alright, everyone, get back in position. Let's continue." Gamora ordered, resuming her role as trainer as Embo went off to do his thing.
As the sun started to set upon the valley, a Weequay pirate was watching them all from the cliff face above.
"Well, what have we here? Getting ready for a fight, are we?" He muttered out, looking through a pair of binoculars.
Walking through a part of the village as she was chatting with Quill, she spotted something from the corner of her eye. Curious about it, she directed her attention towards it and saw something amiss.
"There, a scout!" She explained, pointing towards the cliff face.
The Weequay scrambled up to his feet before getting shot at by several blaster bolts.
He looked around frantically, spotting a droid hovering above him.
Seeing as an opportunity in taking out the enemy scout, HK-47 had activated the Aero-ring and took off into the air. With the added form of mobility, the assassin droid was in a state of glee in hunting down his target.
The pirate sprinted away as HK-47 kept firing at the Weequay. Yet, rather than simply taking him out, HK instead opted to toy with the pirate by firing from side to side.
Just as the pirate reached his speeder bike, suddenly, from out of nowhere, a metallic disk flew forward and struck the Weequay in the chest. The pirate hunched over from the recent blow. When he tried to move back up, he saw the hatless Embo rushing towards him. The Weequay threw a punch, but the limb was snatched before the bounty hunter performed a neck hold and snapped his neck soon after.
Dropping the corpse onto the ground, the bounty hunter soon saw his metallic, circular hat was in the grasp of the assassin droid. Retrieving his weapon/hat from HK, Embo gave the droid a thankful nod, which was given back in return.
As this exchange went on, the others joined them a moment later.
"That was quick." Peter said, crouching down to take the blaster rifle before he tossed it over to Rocket who hummed in thought of possible modifications.
"Yes… but when this scout fails to report to Hondo, he'll be coming rather soon." Sugi said bitterly.
"Then we'd better get ready." Gamora declared.
"Jubilation: At long last, meatbags to kill."
Over where Hondo and his men were camped out, one of the Weequay men went up to the pirate lord. Said man was presently going over supply details for upcoming raids he wanted to take part in as he was eating his early dinner.
"Yes, yes, what is it? Don't you see I'm busy."
"The scout has not checked in from the village. He's long overdue."
Hondo sighed which was soon replaced with a sinister smirk.
"Well, well, well. So it looks like the Guardians decided to be the foolish heroes they pretend to be, eh? Or at least we now know we can't take these villagers for granted." Hondo remarked, standing up from his meal.
"What should we do now, boss?"
Hondo hummed a little, soon eyeing one of the few droids presently turned on.
It was a miraculous find, these droids. They had to be prototypes from a sort of startup company, hoping to one up the Trade Federation and their allies. The Weequay pirate lord did wonder why such magnificent specimens had to be given such durable armor and firepower if they were so happen to be prototypes. They should've been made with a bit more cheaper materials, obviously far better than the ones used for the Separatist droids.
Well he ain't complaining, that's for sure. His win and the loss of whoever made these droids once he raided that transport carrying them in the first place.
"It appears we will have to claim our Harvest sooner than expected." Hondo said, walking over to a large vehicle and resting one leg upon it. "But you know what I always say… speak softly and drive a big tank." He then turned his attention back to one of his underlings. "I'll get the rest of our toys up and running in no time. In the meantime, why don't you and the boys ruff up the village. But be discreet."
"Because of the Guardians?"
"Because of the Guardians."
In the middle of the night, the farming village appeared to be at peace. The wildlife barely stirred with the insects chirping whatever sounds they gave off. And as this went on, some of the bounty hunters were patrolling the grounds while everyone else was resting for the fight no doubt happening in the morning.
Pulling back the binoculars, the Weequay pirate using them signaled the rest of his fellow men to move forward in getting into positions.
Presently, they had to traverse through the forest in hopes of getting the element of surprise. They obviously couldn't take the main road entering the valley as it's too open with their large numbers. So they had to take the long way around and-
"You hear that?" one of the pirates asked aloud.
"Hear wha-?"
There was an odd jingle in the air. Followed by singing.
Southern nights
Just as good even when closed your eyes
I apologize to anyone who can truly say
That he has found a better way
"What is that?"
"I don't-"
*CLINK*
The pirates all froze as they looked down towards the foot of one of their comrades.
A moment later, multiple needles from all over struck a good number of them, with every single one that got hit riddled with needles and falling to the ground, many of which quickly fell into either unconsciousness or paralysis.
The remaining pirates were all scrambling now when they heard a brief beeping noise and looked down in horror.
Southern skies
Have you ever noticed southern skies?
Its precious beauty lies just beyond the eye
It goes running through your soul
Like the stories told of old
The pirates were promptly launched high in the air, crying out in shock and terror, with some still on the ground looking up in fear.
A moment later, they too were thrown into the air by some invisible gravitational force just as the others came down.
Feel so good
Feel so good
It's frigth'ning
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting
La da da da da da la da da da da da da da
Jumping through tree branch to tree branch, Rocket chuckled to himself. "And they say the same tricks won't work twice. Well they haven't met me, then."
Looking down from his hiding place, Rocket put away the anti-gravity mine detonator and retrieved a series of electro-disks. Once out, he leaped down and started jumping onto each of the pirates while leaving a parting gift on their bodies. Each of them were frantic on his sudden approach, outright confused as to what Rocket was doing.
Jumping off the last pirate, Rocket pressed the control switch connected to the electro-disks, electrocuting the enemy pirates in one fell swoop. Seeing them all spasm on their feet, the remaining pirates fell to the ground defeated.
"That takes care of them."
Earlier, back in the village, the people were moving. They were alerted earlier when the rest of the bounty hunters started hearing the explosions and blaster fire in the air.
"Alright everyone," Sugi was yelling aloud in the center of the village. "Move it. Get to your positions and stay inside your homes and behind the fence."
Embo was moving with HK, taking a moment to pause and glance over to the sound of the screaming pirates.
He caught sight of a small group of pirates being flung into the air to fall down and from another part of the forest, the same for another group of pirates. The process repeated itself several times before Embo turned away to focus up on the job.
Peter and Sugi with Gamora were now standing at the front of the fence that would serve as their barrier.
"The farmers are in position. Well, the ones who stuck around, anyway." Quill said.
"Very well. Turn on the fence." Gamora said to Sugi who simply nodded and pressed down a control upon her wrist.
In an instant, what could be described as green electricity surrounded the majority of the village.
Sugi and Rumi slapped on the aero-rigs and both momentarily marveled at how this technology shaped around their forms. Taking to the skies, it was a slight wobbly experience for both as they hadn't used something like this.
The moment the two airborne bounty hunters stabilized themselves, they spotted a number of objects flying towards them.
"We got company!" Rumi shouted, raising her sniper rifle.
"Battle positions, everyone!" Sugi exclaimed, firing off a few shots at the incoming pirate droids.
They took the blasts quite well, raising their arms and morphing them into their railgun forms.
Quickly flying out of the way, the two were replaced by Star-Lord who flew straight at the droids with his Quad blasters in hand.
Rocketing straight for them, Peter maneuvered around the oncoming blaster fire before literally tackling a droid in midair. The droid "stumbled" so to speak which gave Peter the chance to blast it away into pieces, moving on to his next target.
Some flew down, firing their railguns at the village with their protectors running about to defend the people.
Embo ran forward, lowering his hat to block some of the oncoming fire, having to angle his head slightly in order to take the impact as these blasts were proving to be particularly strong.
Jumping over a droid, he spun about with small disks falling from his form. It surrounded the confused droid and as Embo landed, the droid was promptly shocked and overloaded.
The Kyuzo looked up and nodded in satisfaction. He'd have to make sure to thank Rocket later.
Embo then heard the sound of oncoming speeders and ran forward.
Several passed by yet the one in the center of the group had the unfortunate reality of having been punted straight off his bike and having it commandeered by a fancy hat wearing bounty hunter.
Elsewhere…
Being directed to another road, Gamora led a group of pirates on a speeder bike she pilfered from one of their enemies earlier. Reaching a certain point, she signaled Serapis and the other farmers to get into action. Moments later the trees were knocked down and fell onto the road. The oncoming pirates were too late to turn, causing them all to crash into the fallen flora, resulting in them either dying or being critically injured.
She looked back with a small grin at Serapis who nodded at her and turned to-
*KA-BOOM*
Gamora's eyes widened in stunned shock at the form of Serapis being engulfed and swallowed by a fiery explosion.
Moments later, from the smoky remains of the bounty hunter, several droids flew out from the black mist in pursuit of the Zehoberian.
Snarling, Gamora pivoted her speeder bike and sped straight at the droids head on.
They fired at her with Gamora firing back. She managed to shoot one down, yet the remaining droids clipped the speeder bikes engines.
Unbothered by this, Gamora merely jumped forward with her borrowed bike crashing.
Whipping out her hand, her trusty retractable sword named Godslayer formed and with one clean strike slashed through two of the droids.
They both stumbled in the air before splitting off into multiple pieces and falling down to the ground.
The remaining droid flew around to try and get around the expert assassin.
However, Gamora was already on the move.
Using her enhanced strength, speed, athleticism and surrounding environment, Gamora jumped high in the air and performed a spinning kick.
Her heel connected to the forehead of the droid with it being kicked clean off.
Back in the village, the Guardians with their bounty hunter comrades were fighting off the pirates and their droids.
For the most part, thanks to Rocket's gadgets and their own fighting skills, the fight was relatively in their favor.
That was until Hondo decided to get himself involved in his own special way.
Atop the cliff, Hondo sat within his tank, manning its primary gun. He began firing at the village, not caring where he aimed as he knew the large bolts would cause destruction no matter where it struck.
And one of them was unfortunately in the direction of where Embo was riding.
The bolt struck nearby, the shockwave being enough the Kyuzo flying through the air and landing hard on the ground.
"Embo!" Sugi yelled out, running towards her fellow bounty hunter. Coming to his side, she inspected to see if he was alive. "Embo, can you hear me?" The Zabrak saw him stir, weakly trying to get up. "You'll be alright. We'll get you inside."
More tank rounds rained upon the land, causing more chaos to arise. The farmers on their ridden mounts were flown off and were severely injured as they tried fleeing to safety.
"Everyone, fall back to the barn!"
The group momentarily halted as they saw a blaster bolt headed in their direction.
Rocket however was thankfully close by. With a near second to spare, he tossed out a large collection of tiny orbs that formed a large ray shield in front of the group that took the blaster bolt with ease.
"That tank is going to tear the villagers apart." Sugi said wearily, hoisting Embo up in order to get him to the barn.
"Quill, ya hear that?" Rocket said, looking to the air where Peter was currently fighting off some droids.
"Loud and clear." Quill grunted, smacking a droid away with his weapon, blasting a hole through its head a second later.
Sugi helped Embo towards the barn with HK providing cover.
"Get him inside. We'll hold them off as long as we can." Sugi said, getting Embo off her shoulders and onto one of the villagers.
Suddenly, an explosion from above was heard and the form of Rumi fell before them.
"No!" the Zabrak cried out in horror at the sight of her friend, rushing over to her.
"Sugi, don't get distracted dammit." Rocket said, using his ion cannon to fire at several pirates that entered into the main defensive perimeter of the village.
"But-"
"You wanna live another day for your friend? Then grieve later!"
Up on the cliffside, Hondo was readying to fire again when he was nearly struck by fire from above. He looked up to see Star-Lord flying straight at him, firing his Quad Blasters.
The pirate captain ducked into the tank to avoid the fire.
Quill drew closer when Hondo popped out of the tank to fire at him with a blaster bolt of his own.
Star-Lord bobbed out of the way and fired at the tank.
It struck the barrel of the cannon.
Landing atop the tank, Peter engaged Hondo in close quarters, the pirate tossing aside his blaster pistol and switching to an electrified staff.
He swung the staff several times with Peter dodging every swipe, countering with a jab to the gut and one uppercut to the chin.
Before he could capitalize on his advantage, Hondo's little pet jumped out from the tank right upon Quill's face.
"Get off me!" Peter said, throwing the creature down
With a powered swing of his leg, Peter punted the Kowakian monkey-lizard flying. With himself free, the Guardian quickly avoided Hondo's next attack, leaping back and landing on solid ground.
"Your situation is hopeless, Quill." Hondo stated from his place on his hover tank.
Before Peter could get back into action, the Kowakian monkey-lizard came back with a vengeance.
Peter flailed as he pried the little monster off his face. "What the hell is your deal?!" He yelled, before tossing it down and promptly shot and killed it.
"NO!" Hondo cried in terror, his face morphing into one of fierce fury. "And why'd you have to hurt such a sweet creature?"
"Sweet? That thing was bitter and you know it."
"Lies!... Okay, that one would be true. Eh~ I'll get another one."
"Hopefully, better house trained."
With that said, they went back into fighting each other.
Down in the village, the Guardians and bounty hunters were back outside the electric fence having pushed the attackers back.
Gamora punched a droid straight through the chest when she felt something whiz by her from behind.
Looking back, she saw a certain Felucian recovering his spear from the body of a Weequay.
"Welcome back, Dilanni. Are you alright?" Gamora said with a small smirk.
"Fine." Dilanni said confidently.
Back up at the cliffside, Peter was moving back from Hondo's rather erratic swings with his electro staff until the pirate swung in a wide horizontal arch…
Leaving him wide open.
Ducking forth, Quill pressed his shoulder against Hondo's waste and with a mixture of strength and momentum, flung his enemy over him.
Tossed overhead, the Weequay pirate lord slid across the cliff and nearly fell off the side. He quickly gasped onto the ledge and held onto dear life.
As this went on, several of Hondo's men spotted what's occurring up above.
"The captain!" One of them called out. "Let's go!"
The remaining pirates quickly vacated the farmland, either to hopefully save their boss or to make it back to their ship… for other purposes.
Seeing the pirates flee, Casiss wore a large smile on his face. "The day is won!" He cried out, earning cheers from his fellow farmers.
Back on the cliff, Peter watched Hondo dangling from the ledge.
"Help me!" Pleaded the pirate.
Peter was not convinced enough to help the man out, until...
"Quill… let me call off my men."
Star-Lord however pointed his quad blaster at the pirate when he heard something from behind.
He looked back in time to see the tank's cannon point directly at him.
Without even thinking, Quill jumped off the cliff and with his boot thrusters, prevented himself from crash landing on the ground below.
He stood up to see the others running over to him and they all had their heads pointed up at the top of the cliff where Hondo had climbed back up to.
"This effort…" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Is no longer… profitable!" He roared out before making his way back to his ship.
Once boarding, the ramp closed off just as the ship took off into orbit.
They all watched as the ship flew off and away, eventually out of sight.
After a moment, the villagers began to cheer upon realizing their victory with the Guardians and remaining bounty hunters smiling in satisfaction at a job well done.
The next day, while the village's mood was high, there was a sense of melancholy as there were several graves that were made for the fallen.
Multiple mounds of the villagers that had braved the battle to defend their home with two graves at the head of them all.
One had the helmet of Serapis' mechanical body on a pole whilst the other had the cloak of Rumi Paramita.
The villagers had honored the warriors who fell to defend their village and would make sure that they would be remembered as heroes rather than simply hired guns to protect their village.
Eventually, Casiss along with a majority of the villagers stood at the edge of the town with the six surviving mercenaries standing before them.
"There are crops to harvest, fields to till, huts to rebuild. Now… let us rest so we may work in peace." With the villagers disbursing to return to their homes and earn a pleasant rest, Cassis turned to the rest of the hired bounty hunters. "How can I ever thank you for saving our village?"
"We didn't save your village, Cassis. Your people did." Quill said with a smile.
"For the first time in my memory, my people don't have to be afraid. We will never forget you."
"I sure hope you don't." Rocket said as he was sitting on the crate of Sillim seeds they have earned for this job.
Right next to Rocket stood Embo, who was sitting on a stack of Sillim that both he and Sugi will be splitting up for their additional earnings. Presently, he was sporting several bandages to help deal with his injuries from the previous night.
"I see myself light on company." Sugi said not far from the Guardians. "Do you want to hit a bar somewhere and celebrate a job well done?"
"Now you're talking my language." Rocket said encouragingly. "Could go for a solid drink right about now."
"It was good working with you all." Gamora said earnestly.
Embo let out a few words making Peter hum.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Quill admitted. "Maybe you can let Rocket tinker with your hat there. Make it more awesome."
"Comment: I would advise you to do so, Kyuzo. The rewards are well worth it." HK hefted up his rifle and showed off several features he never got to use in the middle of the fight.
Embo hummed in consideration as the group began to walk away from the village towards their ships.
"I admit, it was nice working with you lot." Sugi said just before entering her ship with Embo in tow.
"We'll see you guys back on Tatooine." Quill called out. "First drinks on us."
"We'll count on that."
-In an undisclosed location-
A small ship flew through the empty vacuum, it's destination a brownish grey planet.
There were several ships in orbit that if one were to look closely, there were multiple "droids" working around the clock to make the ships stronger.
The small ship passed by the larger ones, heading down to the planet's surface towards a particularly ominous and large factory.
Small droids and star fighters flew in and out of the factory with this one going straight to the top of the factory, flying just above one of the pillars that billowed out smoke. The ship hovered over the factory for a brief moment until a landing pad appeared from the pillar.
It landed and the pillar descended down into the factory.
As it went down, it passed by multiple lines, conveyors, cranes and areas where multiple droids of multiple sizes with the same overall aesthetic were being made.
It eventually stopped upon a floor where there were multiple ships of similar design being stored. The hatch opened with a damaged but still functioning droid coming out and taking to the air.
The droid arrived at a single door at the end of a long corridor.
The door opened with the droid entering into a circular chamber.
In the center was a singular metallic chair hooked up with multiple wires and pipes.
And seated upon this throne was a tall, metal individual that radiated danger and power.
"I see you've returned from your trip." The beings' voice was a strange blend of synthetic and organic. "How was it?"
Rather than answering verbally, the droid had its blue eyes blink rapidly before stepping forward to its master.
Reaching off to the side, the being grasped onto a robotic head and gazed upon the lifeless optics.
The droid's head was then detached from the rest of its body and was raised slightly above the being that held it.
It held the head for a few moments as it gathered the information that it had brought to him.
He hummed aloud as he replayed the audio and visual of the battle that this droid was a part of.
"Earth music?" He murmured to himself.
As far as he was aware, the only semblance of Earth culture was with the Avengers within Republic space. How did it get out there?
"A talking raccoon? And a human? Like a legit Earth human?"
His optics opened with a sinister grin forming.
"Hmm, well well. These Guardians are an interesting new factor on the board." The being tossed the head back to the droid, who caught it's severed head. "Get yourself fixed up and get back to work."
Leaning back into his chair, Ultron continued to monitor his work, knowing that soon… his time would come.
Alright everybody, that one was a great time but I think, no I know there's only one way to close out this chapter.
-Earth-
The day was… somber.
One might assume that it'd be a great day with how sunny it was yet it was not so.
In a graveyard, an assembly of all sorts of individuals were brought together. The day was shining with the skies ever so clear, yet it didn't raise the mood present in the area.
Individuals from all walks of life stood around a grave with their heads hung low.
Tears were flowing as each one of them dropped a single flower atop the casket with thousands more in attendance.
It was sudden and without warning.
But devastating all the same.
Nearby, a family of royalty stood closest to the grave with the group all being women. One was the elder of the trio, wearing a small crown atop her head with her arms around the shoulder of the youngest.
The youngest held hands with the middle-aged woman who had exceptionally radiant silver hair yet radiance was not what emanated from her.
Behind her were multiple costumed heroes with various colors adorning them all with the uniting symbol of X found somewhere on their uniform.
Beside them were a family of four, each sporting the number 4 on their chests or in the case of their biggest member, upon his belt.
In another area stood a small band of misfit heroes, who Defended their respective small communities from the criminals preying on the weak.
At another section, a team of Guardians were present to help support their grieving comrades.
The last of the large assemblage were a group of equally diverse heroes with them ranging from covert spies, to gods, mechanical geniuses, old soldiers and neighborhood heroes.
They stood for what seemed like an eternity but not one wished to leave.
In their eyes, it was too soon.
Far too soon.
Death would always claim them all in the end but there were those instances where they wished there was more time.
Brief as it may have been however, his legacy is now etched forever in stone.
In a dark land with a bright purple, starlite sky, a lone man wandered around the tall grassy landscape.
"Heya King T'challa."
T'challa looked back and saw someone he didn't expect to see here of all places. "Stan? What are you doing here?"
Stan 'the Man' Lee smiled bashfully. "Well… I figured I would have had to wait a while longer for all of ya but you got here sooner than most."
"Yeah… I did, didn't I?"
Stan wrapped a comforting, almost fatherly arm around the king with his beaming grin in place.
"It's a great view on the way up there. But I figure it's better going up with company than going alone."
"Very true."
"Well come on, there's this one bar that you'll no doubt enjoy." Stan said, the two beginning to climb up some stairs appearing from out of nowhere. "I made sure for Ditko and Kirby to save ya a seat."
"Thanks Stan."
"No, Thank you, T'Challa."
…
Goodbye, friend. We will miss you, Chadwick Boseman. You earned your rest with your four yearlong battle against cancer. Hope you have a great afterlife. And long live the King. WAKANDA FOREVER.
Yeah, it hurts just writing this scene.
It's small. I know it is. But I can't think of any other way to express this.
Jebest4781: Most would do simple shout outs, but we felt such an… event… needed something more.
FMW: It's hard to really describe such a loss cause I am actually tearing up slightly as I write this message. When we all really think about it, these past ten years, for us fans of comic books, for us fans of nerd fandoms everywhere these have been some of the greatest ten years of our lives. We've had the MCU, the DC movies, The CW shows, the Netflix Marvel Heroes, multiple games, comics, shows, so on and so forth be brought to us and while there were times where they weren't the best, it only makes the great ones stand out that much more.
Jeb: Same here man. Then again, we have lost a lot of people this year and it's been hard. Can't express myself well enough to make this right. But I will at least say this, live out your life to the fullest and enjoy the experiences, both the good and the bad. It's the experiences that give life meaning, despite the circumstances.
FMW: Life is never gonna be easy. It will bring you down hard but in the word of JFK, we stride to words those challenges not because they are easy but because they are hard. To better ourselves and have the greatest moments of our lives shine brightly even in the hardest of times. Life will go on, without question.
We're all gonna feel his absence the next time we see an MCU film. But we should also look at the brief but impactful and monumental legacy of Chadwick Boseman, our King of Wakanda he had left behind. And it is a damn powerful one.
Once again, from me and Jebest4781, Rest In Peace Chadwick Boseman and thank you all for reading.
As Always Have Nice Day.