"The evil of Ego the Living Planet had been quelled, but at a great personal loss for the Guardians of the Galaxy. With their newest adventure coming to a close, the team would have to tie up a few loose ends before moving on into a new era…"
The Guardians were all silent as they prepared Yondu's body for his funeral. Flowers and small trinkets were placed along the stretcher, the body tied down securely for its final voyage into the forever sky.
Quill stood before his team and gave a speech. "You know I told Gamora how when I was a kid I used to pretend David Hasselhoff was my dad. He's a singer and actor from Earth, really famous guy. Earlier, it struck me… Yondu didn't have a talking car, but he did have a flying arrow. He didn't have the beautiful voice of an angel, but he did have the whistle of one. Both Yondu and David Hasselhoff went on kick ass adventures, and hooked up with hot women… and fought robots.
"I guess David Hasselhoff did end up being my dad after all, only it was you, Yondu. I had a pretty cool dad. What I'm trying to say here is… sometimes that thing you're searching for your whole life, it's right there by your side the whole time. You don't even know it."
"I am Groot," Groot said.
"He did call you twig," Rocket nodded sadly.
With that Yondu's body was sent into the cremation chamber, burning off into colorful space dust. "Friend Yondu gone now…?" Floor asked.
"Yes, Floor, but I think… I believe he's still out there. Waiting for us to join him in the forever sky when we're ready," Teefs said, the walrus starting to get teary-eyed.
The Guardians all dispersed from there, Gamora seeing Nebula off as her sister went out to pursue Thanos and Quill receiving his final gift from Yondu via Kraglin, being a music-playing device from Earth called a Zune. Rocket meanwhile went up to the cockpit of the ship with Lylla, Sale still being tied to one of the chairs as the raccoon sat down and looked out into the stars.
"…Well, are you going to take me to jail or something now?" Sale asked bitterly.
"There's something else we gotta see first," Rocket said just as ships started coming out of jump gates. "They actually came."
"What is it?" Lylla asked.
"I sent word to Yondu's old Ravager buddies and told them what they did," Rocket explained.
"It's a Ravager funeral," Quill realized as everyone came up to the window to see what would happen next.
The Ravager ships soon started shooting off fireworks, creating a brilliant display of light that brought tears to the eyes of those that witnessed it. "He didn't chase them away," Rocket said.
"No," Quill agreed.
"Even though yelled at them, and was always mean… And did everything to try and act like he didn't care," Rocket said.
"Well, of course not," Quill said, a silent reconciliation happening between the human and raccoon.
"It's beautiful…" Mantis and Lylla said in awe. The otter subtly took Rocket's hand in her own and squeezed it tightly. "It's good to have friends…" she whispered.
[***]
After Yondu's funeral, the Guardians went off to find a new ship, since the Milano at this point would be too much of a hassle to repair. Rocket let Quill take over piloting as he and the rest of Batch 89 had something very important they needed to deal with. Dragging Sale into one of the spare rooms on the ship, Lylla got to work with her medical tools while Rocket hacked into their adversary's communications device.
"What are you lot doing?" Sale raised an eyebrow as Lylla waved a scanner over her body.
"Just checking for any foreign devices the High Evolutionary may have put in your body," Lylla replied, her device beeping as it scanned Sale's heart. "Yep, just as I thought. She has the same type of kill switch that we had. Teefs, the stunner, please."
"Got it, Lylla," Teefs nodded, pulling out a taser from his collar and quickly jabbing Sale with it.
"What are you doing-!" Sale said before seizing up and falling unconscious.
"Night-night!" Floor giggled before the raccoon blacked out.
Sale was jolted awake a few hours later, her top pulled open and minor scarring over where her heart rested. "What the hell did you do to me!?" she demanded.
"We saved your life, thank you very much," Rocket rolled his eyes. "The High Evolutionary had you hooked up to the same device that we all had, and Lylla decided to be nice and take it out for you."
"It also gave me a good look at how your biology differs from our own," Lylla said, holding up her data pad that showed anatomy readings for both Rocket and Sale. "Aside from the obvious sexual dimorphism between yourself and Rocky, you have few mechanical implants in your body to allow for advanced motor functions when compared to us. His experiments on Counter Earth have let him create more Uplifts with only at most 10% implants and 90% gene splicing. Fasinating!"
"Well, last I saw his machine could turn any animal into a Terran-animal hybrid. Don't know why he would make more like us, though. I thought we were supposed to be "outdated" for his perfect world," Rocket shrugged.
"Sire wanted someone closer to yourselves to go after you. Someone that you wouldn't see coming," Sale replied. "Clearly it didn't go how he thought it would."
"Well, you can tell him that yourself. Communications are ready, Captain Rocket," Teefs said.
"Good. Put him on. I think we have a lot to say to "Sire" after all this time," Rocket nodded.
Sale's communication device suddenly turned on, revealing a hologram of the High Evolutionary himself. "Subject 95Y14. Do have Subject 89P13 ready to be delivered to me?" the man asked.
"The name's Rocket, jackass. Rocket Raccoon," Rocket said, crossing his arms as Batch 89 put themselves into view of the hologram. "And just so you know, sending one of our own after us ain't cool. You could have at least done the job yourself, but then again, you always did need me to finish your inventions didn't you?"
"Subject 89P13! Where is Subject 95Y14?" High Evolutionary demanded.
"Her name is Sale, and she is safe," Lylla said, gesturing to Sale sitting dumbly behind them, the raccoon trying to make herself look as small as possible.
"Yeah, friends not captured, but make new friend!" Floor cheered.
"Eh, us being friends is debatable, but she's no worse than Nebula so I guess that counts for something," Rocket shrugged.
High Evolutionary frowned. "I warned you about failure, Subject 95Y14. I do not tolerate imperfection in my grand vision." He pulled out a device and pressed a button on it, Sale wincing as she waited for the pain to come… but nothing happened.
"Huh? No pain…?" Sale said in confusion, even as the High Evolutionary tried the button a few more times.
"Oh, were you expecting to kill Sale with this?" Teefs asked, chuckling as he held up the destroyed kill switch.
"We know all about your tricks to keep us in line, High Evolutionary, and once again you underestimated what we could do," Lylla said sternly.
"You can send any of your mooks after us, but you ain't gonna bring us back quietly," Rocket smirked. "Because if you want me, then you'll have to go through the rest of Batch 89 first, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. And if you come after my friends, then I'll go to Hell and back to get 'em back from you. Hope we never see you again, you psycho."
Before the High Evolutionary could respond (most likely in the form of an angry rant), Rocket smashed the communicator, cutting him off from the group. The raccoon let out a big sigh, sitting down as Batch 89 gathered around to comfort him.
"I…I can't believe you just did that," Sale said numbly.
"I can't believe it either, Sale. But that guy, he doesn't control you or any of us anymore," Rocket replied.
"No, you don't get it. If I don't have Sire anymore, who am I supposed to be?" Sale asked.
"Friend Sale be friend of Guardians. Travel forever sky with us!" Floor suggested.
"Yeah, no. She might not be controlled by that guy anymore, but she still has to make up for kidnapping us," Rocket said.
"I-I… You're all insane!" Sale shouted, clutching her face and screaming, before laughing manically, quickly devolving into tears. "W-Who even am I at this point!? Sire just tried to kill me, but the people I was trying to kill just saved me!? How does that make any bloody sense, huh!?"
Floor went over and started giving soothing rubs to Sale's back to call her, while Lylla explained, "The High Evolutionary doesn't see us as people, only as his property. The difference between him and us is that we care about other life forms, and as Guardians of the Galaxy, we have a duty to help those in need. You made mistakes and bad decisions, Sale, but so did the rest of us here. If we can move on from our past, I know you can too."
"Besides, you have skills you could use to make a name for yourself, outside of Sire's control," Teefs pointed out. "You managed to get the upper hand on an entire ship of Ravagers, which not many could do so easily as you did. And Kraglin seems to like you. I'm sure he's looking for his next steps to take as well now that Yondu has passed on."
"Kraglin…" Sale said, remembering how the Ravager had made her start to question what her purpose was… and how Yondu would have let her join his crew despite all she had done. "I… I liked being captain."
"Then you can be your own captain," Lylla said with a smile. "Go out into the stars and explore new worlds. Do more than what Sire wants; do what Captain Sale wants."
"What Captain Sale wants…" Sale repeated. She closed her eyes as she let a few more tears fall. "Flark, you all are too nice to someone like me."
"Just don't try to kill us again and we'll call it even," Rocket said.
[***]
On Counter-Earth, the High Evolutionary's workers all winced as their boss was once again destroying everything in his room. The scientist was not happy that Rocket and his friends had slipped from his grasp once again, and they had taken Sale away from him as well. As he ranted and raved to himself, Ayesha of the Sovereign came into the room, looking unamused at her collaborators actions.
"I thought you were more composed than this, High Evolutionary," Ayesha said. "Did another experiment not go to plan?"
High Evolutionary held out a hand to the golden women, catching her in his telekinetic grip. "I am tired of Subject 89P13 evading me! Its mind is the only one to ever come close to my greatness, and it belongs to ME! NO ONE ELSE! And now it and the others have corrupted another of my subjects! Creating Batch 95 was a miscalculation on my part, but that will be corrected soon enough when I terminate the project."
"If I may make a suggestion…?" Ayesha choked out, gasping for air when the High Evolutionary dropped her to the floor. "I have seen 89P13 in action alongside their Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn't think much of them at first, but looking back I realize that they are your creations as well. The Guardians made a mockery of the Sovereign, and I want revenge on them as much as you do."
The High Evolutionary decided not to tell Ayesha that Sale was the one to frame the Guardians, simply raising an eyebrow. "You may continue."
"The reason your creations are so rebellious is because you didn't give them something to believe in. You crushed their hopes and dreams, and that only made them bite that hand that feeds them," Ayesha said, moving over to look out at Counter-Earth. "Look at your latest creations. They have made their own lives, and yet you let them have so much autonomy? My people serve the Sovereign and the Sovereign alone. They look to me for guidance, much like how the others look to 89P13."
She snapped her fingers, calling in some of her guards as they wheeled a cocoon into the room. "If you want your creations to fall in line, you need to give them something to believe in, and someone to lead them. Even if it's all for the sake of keeping them in line, build a strong foundation and they will walk off a cliff if you so command it."
The High Evolutionary pondered Ayesha's words before nodding. "I see… Yes, that's it! If the mind is preoccupied with the present, it will not have time to think about why it is doing a task if it is in service of a greater power. The Counter-Earth Project will continue as it is now, but for my newest creations… Batch 95 will worship an idol of my own creation, and from it the perfect lifeforms will be born!"
"And I have the idol you need right here," Ayesha said, gesturing to the cocoon. "The greatest and most perfect being of Sovereign design… My son, Adam."
Author's Note
And that concludes Volume 2 of "Batch 89: Awesome Mix!" I really liked having the parallels of Quill and Rocket talking about their "dads," with Quill reflecting on Yondu while Rocket finally gets to call out the High Evolutionary. We also have Batch 89 spare Sale and even give her a fresh start with Kraglin. We'll see more of her when Volume 3 comes around.
The High Evolutionary doesn't take losing another experiment well, but Ayesha returns to offer him some advice on how to move the Batch 95 project forward. Seems like Adam will have a bit of a different role as the golden boy is being set up as a false idol for Batch 95 to worship. How that all plays out will be revealed when we get to Volume 3, which I will say up front is going to be VERY different from the movie due to how the timeline has been altered.
The next bit arc is going to be Infinity War, but we have a few chapters before we get there. Since that movie is set in 2018 and Volume 2 is set in 2014, we have about four years we need to cover, which means some one-off Guardians adventures! There will be a bit of "I am Groot" coverage, as well as seeing how Mantis interacts with Batch 89 since they haven't gotten a lot of time together. See you all next time for the road to Infinity War!