The night sky seemed endless. The black tide crept relentlessly toward the ruined school. If not for those eyes redder than the blood moon, it would seem as if the night sky were reflecting on the ground, so dense was the concentration of bastards.

He hadn't spent much time in Remnant on his only other visit. He'd seen these things before but couldn't remember for the life of him what the hell they were called. Well, that didn't matter much, obviously. Columns of smoke and flames rose toward the heavens; not a single building around looked intact. Without a doubt, the place where they had landed was a true battlefield. And yet, looking around, all he could see were so many children in danger.

"We need to fix this quickly, Peter Quill," said Drax, pulling out his weapons. The big green guy had his soft spots, even if it didn't seem that way at first glance.

"Yeah, true. Guys, split up and help the locals as best you can."

"And what are you going to do?" Rocket asked.

"Find the girl, of course. I'm worried about her. Besides, Summer would kill me if I let anything happen to Ruby."

It had been many years, but he still remembered her as if it were yesterday. Too bad she was married. As for the girl, little Ruby... well, he'd had a hard time recalling her name, to be honest. More important than the name, would she even recognize him these days? It had been many years, a whole decade.

Peter propelled himself into the skies with his rocket boots, rising above the buildings. A bird's-eye view always came in handy. As the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, he often took moments to step away from the fight, rise up, and observe. That usually gave him the right perspective on the battle, the knowledge he needed to issue proper orders. But now, he wasn't doing any of that. He was searching for a needle in a haystack.

The signal had brought them to the right place, but it wouldn't help them find the girl. The device wasn't that precise, and besides, it could only be tracked by the Milano itself. He wished he'd given her a model that would beep even after breaking it to activate it! It would be slightly easier to find her now. Though not by much, considering the chaos around: noises everywhere. There was a uniformed faction dressed so blatantly that they might as well have been shouting, "We're the bad guys." They were fighting students in big robots or in closer combat.

There was even a beast that looked like a dragon, though all it was doing at the moment was staying off to the side near a pretty dilapidated tower in the center of the academy. Peter had defeated a dragon before, one of Knull's, the god of the dark and the void.

He wasn't eager to repeat the feat, but surely it wouldn't be nearly as dangerous, he hoped.

At last, he spotted Ruby Rose.

"There you are!" he shouted triumphantly. He didn't recognize her by her face, to be honest, but by that stupid cape. She still wore it. Adorable. Well, it probably wasn't the same cape; she would have outgrown it by now.

Star-Lord shot forward, urgency driving him. Ruby wasn't okay. There had to be a reason she'd sent the emergency signal. She was lying on the ground, with the heel of a woman dressed in red digging into her chest. The woman in question had flames enveloping her hands. He supposed she had been about to finish Ruby off, but fortunately, now he was the one capturing all her attention. Even from a distance, he could tell: she was looking at him like he was a puzzle to be solved.

That look intensified a million times over when he started shooting.

"Legendary!" Star-Lord shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing attention.

He kept flying straight toward the kid, of course, but in the meantime, he shot all around without looking and without missing. A little fire here to tame the beasts, a little ice to stop their advance and block off areas. A bit of plasma there to melt the frozen ones or set those dark beasts ablaze. And naturally, he fired gusts of wind, easily creating plenty of space.

Okay, he had to admit it, it wasn't like he had precognition or anything. He did look—he wasn't about to risk collateral damage—but not much. Still, his gunslinging skills were ridiculously impressive. It was bad to say so himself, but it was the truth.

"Peter Quill, unstoppable force!" Mantis's voice came through the communicator.

Peter grinned, though he'd never admit it out loud. Not that it made much difference to Mantis. Her positivity and enthusiasm were always welcome. It was what they sometimes needed because they were mostly a bunch of grouches. Mantis and he did what they could to lighten the mood, but Gamora had her silent stoic assassin vibe, Drax swung between stoicism and rage (though sometimes he came out with something ridiculous), and Rocket... well, Rocket acted like he was permanently on his period. Haha.

No.

He wouldn't repeat that in front of the raccoon, let alone Gamora.

Peter smirked; he'd never admit it out loud, though for Mantis it didn't make much difference. Mantis's positivity and enthusiasm were always welcome. It was what they needed sometimes, because they were mostly a band of grouches. Mantis and he did what they could to lighten the mood, but Gamora had her silent, stoic assassin vibe, Drax oscillated between stoicism and rage (though occasionally he'd say something ridiculous), and Rocket… well, Rocket acted like he was perpetually on his period.

No.

He wouldn't repeat that in front of the raccoon, let alone in front of Gamora.

Anyway. Just like that, without stopping, without missing, Star-Lord reached the tower.

He had to dodge several fire blasts from the fiery woman, close-range and with barely any time to react, but he managed, of course. After all, he was legendary, Star-Lord.

"Sweet moves, right?" he said as he landed, marveling at himself, whistling. Partly to piss off his enemies and make them screw up, but only partly—the less fun part.

The fiery woman stepped away from Ruby.

"I don't need another meddling loudmouth. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Star-Lord. Remember it for however long you've got left to live. And if you didn't want to deal with me, you shouldn't have messed with that kid. Tough luck."

They started circling each other, their intense gazes locked, as if waiting to see who would be the first to snap, to launch into proper combat. Peter was uneasy about that dragon-like beast, but for now, it just stayed there, perched near the tower. So, well, it could stay there… for now. Anyway, if Drax made it here, he'd make short work of that thing. It wasn't necessarily his problem.

"I saw you fighting," the fiery woman said. "It's hard not to notice you, show-off. But I admit it's justified: all that wind, fire, ice… How is that possible? What kind of Semblance is that?"

"Sembl… what?" Peter played dumb. He knew little about the planet called Remnant, but Summer had explained Semblances to him. Not much, but well, he got the gist. It was a relatively primitive world, and they believed what he had just done was magic or something like it.

"You have a very irritating smile, and that's saying something considering you're wearing a helmet," she said.

Star-Lord shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I get that a lot."

He decided to take the initiative by firing an ice charge, which the fiery woman melted before it could touch her skin, but it had been close, just millimeters away. She had to focus and let that strange power flow, while Peter just had to pull the trigger… from a fairly generous distance, even for someone who had no idea how to aim. Star-Lord's bullets were winners, and that was good. That's what he wanted: to win.

He had no idea what was going on, but he didn't care. These bastards had crossed a line: attacking a school, for God's sake. Nothing justified that. Nothing.

The fiery woman rose a few meters off the ground and began firing fireblasts, straight from her hands. Peter easily blocked them with ice. However, they were attacks that canceled each other out and made no progress. Still, sometimes, even for a gunslinger, all the damage needed was the opportunity to close the gap. He landed a solid punch to her temple, sending her flying toward what was left of the roof, which wasn't much.

With his rocket boots, he easily followed her and transformed into the eye of a hurricane. A grenade hurricane, to be exact. Spinning in the air, he dropped a few. The explosions blew the fiery woman through one of the walls, and it was a pretty high fall. Which meant he wasn't sure it would kill her, but well, it was possible.

Star-Lord landed. Of course, he had ensured none of the attacks hit the girl, especially the grenades. He was stupid, but not that stupid. He approached the girl, crouching beside her and taking her hand to help her up.

"Hey, kid, long time no see."

Ruby's eyes sparkled.

"Yeah, it's been a long time. Thanks."

It was nice to have someone recognize his heroics for a change.