----- August 3rd, 2014 - Knowhere -----

"How are you so calm right now?!"

Y/N, Peter, and Gamora walk away from The Collector's archive and through the bar. Gamora and Peter looked frantic, while Y/N seemed fine as he readjusts his glasses.

"Why wouldn't I be calm?," Y/N asks Peter.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you just watched a girl literally explode!"

"Carina was very unhappy slaving for The Collector. That wasn't my fault," Y/N tells him, "If anything, I shouldn't have attempted to stop her."

"Then why did you?," Gamora asks.

Y/N waves his hands, literally waving the question off, "I'm only here to watch and satisfy my curiosity.. Nothing more."

The other two glance over at Y/N. He struggles to keep his composure and blank face, fidgeting way too much.

The three finally reach the exit.

"How could I think Tivan could contain whatever was within the orb?," Gamora asks rhetorically as they step through the door.

Rocket shouts as he and Groot run up to them, "What do you still have it for?!"

"Well what are we gonna do, leave it in there?," Peter rhetorically questions.

Rocket shouts at him, "I can't believe you had that in your purse!"

"It's not a purse, it's a knapsack!," Peter shouts right back.

"We have to bring this to the Nova Corps," Gamora says, "There's a chance they can contain it."

"Are you kidding me? We're wanted by the Nova Corps! Just give it to Ronan!," Rocket yells, hysterically.

"So he can destroy the galaxy?"

"What are you, some Saint all of a sudden?," Rocket complains, "What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?"

"Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!"

Gamora grabs Peter by the jacket, "Peter, listen to me. We cannot allow the stone to fall into Ronan's hands. We have to go back to your ship and deliver it to Nova."

"..Right, right, okay.. I think you're right..," Peter agrees, until he says, "....Or.. we could give it to somebody who's not going to arrest us, who's really nice for a whole lot of money. I think it's a really good balance between both of your points of view."

"You're despicable," Gamora tells him as she lets go of him.

"I-"

"Dishonorable. Faithless!" 

Gamora turns and starts to walk off, when she notices a fleet of Ronan's ships flying towards them in the skies. Drax was feet ahead, bearing his blades, with his arms spread in triumph.

"At last!," Drax exclaims, "Ha ha ha! I shall meet my foe and destroy him!"

"You called Ronan?!," Peter shouts at him.

One of the ships begins its descent to the ground. And off to the side, Yondu Udonta and the Ravagers appears around the corner.

"QUILL! Don't you move, boy!," Yondu yells upon spotting him.

Gamora looks to the left, spotting a ship ready for use. Quill, Gamora and Rocket run for it. Y/N contemplates going with them, but stays to finally see Ronan for the first time.

Ronan steps off his ship and Drax waits for him with his blades still raised. Y/N watches as the people around them run away in fear.

"Ronan the Accuser!," Drax shouts.

As Ronan stalks forward, he questions, "You are the one who transmitted the message?"

"You killed my wife. You killed my daughter!"

Meanwhile Gamora, Rocket, and Peter find little mining pods and go to board three of them. Groot tries to climb into the one with Rocket.

Rocket looks back at him, "I told you, you can't fit. Now, wait here. I'll be back."

From the entrance of Ronan's ship, Nebula notices the three mining pods taking off, "It is Gamora. She is escaping with the orb!"

Nebula goes back to board their ship, Ronan turns to join her. Drax, in a rage, starts to charge at Ronan.

"No!," Drax goes to strike him with his knife when Ronan easily dodges it.

"Nebula, retrieve the orb," Ronan tells her, as Drax tries to strike again.

Nebula takes off after the other, While Ronan blocks one of Drax's blades and palm strikes him to the ground. Drax rolls back up to his feet.

One slice, Ronan dodges. 

Two slice, Ronan deflects away downward. 

Three slice to the legs, Ronan merely lifts his leg out of the way. 

Forth slice upward, Ronan blocks then punches Drax back into the wall about 5 yards back.

__________

Rocket, Peter, and Gamora swerve around in the mining pods, trying to evade Nebula and Ronan's men behind them. Peter speeds up and comes up just beside Rocket.

"Rocket, keep them off Gamora until she gets to the Milano," Peter shouts over to him.

"How? We've got no weaponry on these things."

"These pods are industrial grade, they're nearly indestructible."

Rocket nearly snorts at that, "Not against Necroblasts, they're not."

"That's not what I'm saying.."

Rocket thinks on it momentarily, "...Oh." 

Rocket then steers his pod over to the two ships chasing them, he crashes each one into a slim wall, destroying them both. 

Then as another one comes over to shoot at his pod, Rocket flies straight into it while yelling causing it to explode.

They all continue swerving and veering around the Giant Head. Gamora tries to narrowly miss flying into things to cause them to crash. Some do crash, while others manage to stay on her tail.

Peter appears above, hijacking one of the ships chasing them. He rips off the top with his own ship. He pulls his ship into the cockpit, just after the pilot falls out and plummets.

"Let me borrow your ride," Peter quips, as he uses his ship to gain control of Ronan's ship.

He drops the ship just in front of the others as Gamora soars past. He uses the ships weaponry to fire blast at most of Ronan's men as they head his way.

Peter then swerves the ships around, to follow after the others.

__________

Ronan blocks a punch from Drax and grabs him by the neck.

Drax repeatedly tries to injure him with blows to the gut. But Ronan lets out a extremely fucking Strange war cry and flips Drax in the air to the ground by the throat.

"I don't recall killing your family," Ronan lets go and Drax breathes in heavily, "I doubt I'll remember killing you, either." 

__________

Gamora gets smacked into the skull wall of the head, but slips ahead and starts speeding off towards the exit. Which is a massive hole in the giants head.

"Quill, I'm trapped! I can't make it to the Milano, I have to head out," She shouts over the ships comms.

"What? Wait! These things aren't meant to go out there." 

Gamora takes her pod above the atmosphere with Nebula chasing after her. Peter rips his pod through the hijacked Ronan ship, reluctantly following after them.

"You are a disappointment, sister," Gamora hears Nebula say, "Of all our siblings, I hated you least.."

"Nebula, please. If Ronan gets this stone he'll kill us all."

Nebula still proceeds to lock on to her pod from her ship, "Not all... You will already be dead." 

She blows up Gamora's ship leaving Gamora floating in space. Nebula uses a tractor beam to take the Infinity Stone as it floats away.

__________

Ronan is dragging an unconscious Drax on the ground. He turns and starts dragging him towards a vat of yellow liquid.

Before he gets close enough, he stops at the sight of flashing green just in front of it. Y/N appeared sitting with his head on his hand. 

He was staring a Ronan.

Y/N back and forth between the vat and Ronan, "I'm sorry, Cookie Monster. But I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

Ronan drops Drax without taking an eye off Y/N.

Y/N stands, with a grin, and charges at Ronan. 

He tackles him so hard, it sends both of them through a few vendor stalls. Y/N snap jabs Ronan a couple times to the face before they reach the ground.

The second they hit the ground, Ronan kicks Y/N up.

But Y/N held on to him, which allowed him to throw Ronan a few feet in the air. Y/N drops to the ground below him as he falls down.

Once Ronan falls close enough, Y/N does a tornado roundhouse kick. 

Ronan gets flung back and crashes into the entrance of a ship that was waiting for him. He slowly rises to his feet, looking back at Y/N as he slowly makes his way over to Drax.

"Ronan, it is done," Ronan hears Nebula tell him, as he continues watching Y/N even while the bay door closes.

__________

At the same time, Peter and Rocket watch Gamora's body as it floats in space. Her olive green skin was starting to frost over.

"...Quill, come on," Rocket tells him, "Her body mods should keep her alive a couple more minutes, but there's nothing we can do for her.. These pods aren't meant to be out here. In a second, we're gonna be in the same boat.." 

Rocket slowly steers his pod around and starts heading back to the Head. Peter continues staring at Gamora, having very conflicting thoughts about what he should do.

"....Aw, damn it!," He exclaims, now eying the radio in the pod.

"Quill?," Rocket calls, quickly turning his pod back around.

Peter reluctantly announces over the radio, "Yondu! Yondu! This is Quill! My coordinates are 2-2-7-K-3-2-4-"

Simultaneously, Rocket asks, "Quill? Quill, what are you doing?"

"-Just outside Knowhere. If you're there, come get me. I'm all yours."

Peter then puts on his mask, and opens the hatch to his pod. He hovers over to the unconscious Gamora, while Rocket looks on in shock. Peter reaches Gamora and holds onto her.

Rocket, out of his stupor, starts telling him, "Quill, don't be ridiculous! Get back into your pod! You can't fit two people in there, you're gonna die!!" 

Peter holds Gamora's body and starts to take off his mask.

"You'll die in seconds! Quill!," Rocket tries to tell him.

But Rocket quits it, and starts to speed off back towards the Head after seeing a light shine on them.

Peter puts his mask onto Gamora's head and she starts to breath. Peter's skin already frosting up at a much faster rate than Gamora's. Still conscious, he turns his head towards the source of the light flashing on them.

Yondu's fleet arrived. 

Yondu's personal ship appears in front of them and pulls them in on a tractor beam.

As they enter Yondu's ship, Peter removes his mask from Gamora. He also grabs the floor as he struggles to take in a breath. Gamora starts coughing as she regains consciousness.

They were lying flat on the ground. Peter was lying just on top of her.

"Quill?," she says, finally noticing him, "What happened?"

Peter holds his hand up to her face and whispers, "I saw you out there.. I don't know what came over me, but I couldn't let you die... I found something inside of myself. Something incredibly heroic. I mean, not to brag, but objectively-" 

Gamora sighs with frustration and rolls her eyes, "Where's the orb?"

"It's... Well, they got the orb," Peter admits, still whispering.

"What?," she shouts at him.

Just then, a door opens and Kraglin along with the rest of Yondu's men enter. They were all aiming their guns at them.

"Welcome home, Peter," Kraglin announces with a smile.

__________

Y/N stands, hovering over Drax as Groot slowly walks up next to him. They both stood there for a moment staring down at the unconscious, angry, extremely literal man who caused this disaster.

"I Am Groot," Groot says, looking over at Y/N.

Y/N looks back at him with a furrowed brow, "No, he's still alive."

"I Am Groot." 

"Yeah, just smack him around a bit. That'll wake him up."

And so Groot does just that.

He leans down a bit and gives Drax a light couple of slaps. Unfortunately, this does nothing.

"Drax, wake up," Y/N says, before signaling to Groot to try again.

He nods back.

And then Groot sends one big smack across Drax's face.

This causes Drax to spring up straight. He just sits there, eyes widened. At the same time, Rocket shows up hovering a few feet away. Rocket then lands his pod right in front of them and hops out.

Well, more accurately, he crashed his pod in front of them.

"Blasted idiot! They're all idiots! Quill just got himself captured!," he then points at Drax, "None of this ever would have happened if you didn't try to single-handedly take on a FRICKIN' ARMY!!!"

"...You're right," Drax eventually admits, "..I was a fool.... All the anger, all the rage, was just to cover my loss."

Groot sympathetically places a hand on Drax's shoulder. Y/N anxiously fidgets with his ring. Rocket momentarily looks like he's looking at him with empathy as well..

Until he speaks...

"Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. 'My wife and child are dead.'" 

Both Groot and Y/N gasp at Rockets callousness. The two of them stare at him shocked.

"I Am Groot."

Y/N nods, "Yeah, not cool, man."

"Oh, I don't care if it's mean! Everybody's got dead people! That's no excuse to get everybody else dead along the way!," Rocket goes to turn, saying, "Come on, Groot. Ronan has the stone. The only chance we got is to get to the other side of the universe as fast as we can and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to live full lives before that whack-job ever gets there."

Groot rises to his feet in full glorious defiance, announcing, "I Am Groot!"

"Save them? How?!," Rocket questions, turning back around.

"I am..," he starts beautifully before finishing with a poetic, "..Groot."

"I know they're the only friends that we ever had! But there's an army of Ravagers around them! And there's only TWO of us!"

Drax slowly rises and stands next to Groot, placing his hand on his shoulder now, "Three.." 

Rocket stares at them in confusion and frustration.

Y/N sighs and lets out a small smile before also standing next to Groot, "Make that four, I guess."

Rocket grunts in even more anger and frustration while holding his hand up to his head. He then lets out a small roar, turns and starts kicking the ground with his feet.

"AW! YOU'RE MAKING ME BEAT!  UP!  GRASS! "

__________

----- August 3rd, 2014 - The Dark Aster -----

"The orb is in my possession... as I promised."

Ronan speaks to Thanos in the same manner he would The Other. Korath holds up the orb in his hand just behind Ronan, while also holding Ronan's hammer in his other hand. Nebula stands on the other side of Ronan.

"Bring it to me," Thanos demands.

"Yes, that was our agreement..," Ronan takes the orb from Korath, "Bring you the orb, and you will destroy Xandar for me. However.. now that I know it contains an Infinity Stone, I wonder what use I have for you.."

"Boy," Thanos roars, "I would reconsider your current course."

Ronan tears open the orb and gazes upon the Infinity Stone inside.

Korath apprehensively shouts, "Master! You cannot! Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe!"

"Not anymore!!

And suddenly, grabs the Infinity Stone from the orb.

He lets out a yells as the familiar energies start flaring around the room. His skin even starts pulsating, and as if it's about to peel off.

The energy shoots from the Stone, creating a wide web-like crack beneath Ronan's feet. Nebula watches seemingly in awe and amazement.

Ronan yanks his hammer from Korath and slams the Infinity Stone into it. Embedding the Stone into the center of his hammer's cheek.

The Stone is no longer flaring up.

Ronan's body stops glowing and pulsating, with only his eyes glowing a shade of purple.

"You call me "BOY"?! I will unfurl one thousand years of Kree justice on Xandar, and BURN IT TO ITS CORE! Then, Thanos, I'm coming for you!!"

Thanos gazes on as if he is disinterested, "Then, Ronan... you are doomed to meet your end."

"With this Infinity Stone, you will be but a rodent squashed beneath my foot," Ronan boasts, no longer afraid of Thanos.

"...I did not mean by my hand.."

Thanos now had a glassy look in his eyes. 

He ends the call, without waiting for Ronan's reply.

Nebula, as blank faced as ever, questions Ronan, "After Xandar, you're going to kill my father?"

"You dare to oppose me?," Ronan questions and threatens simultaneously.

Ronan stares at her awaiting her reply. Nebula just stares back in anger. But not towards him.

"You see what he has turned me into. You kill him, I will help you destroy a thousand planets."

____________________