Through the narrow window of Drax's sleeping quarters, the palace shimmered in the distance, bathed in moonlight. Gamora stood at the edge, her eyes fixed outward until the faint chirp of her transmitter broke the silence. She snatched it up, Rocket's voice crackled through.
"Rocket?!" she said, breath tight.
Beyond her, Drax, Nebula, and a still-bewildered Mantis moved down the corridor. Gamora fell into step behind them, keeping the device close.
Far from the palace, Rocket, Yondu, and Groot crawled into the cramped innards of an ancient machine. Rust coated its ribbed walls, and every surface smelled faintly of oil and scorched metal.
The hulking shell groaned under their weight, Rhino just looking at them, not really trusting the old thing.
"Keep that transmitter close so I can find you," Rocket told her through the comm. "We're in an old piece of construction gear Yondu once used to slice open the Bank of A'askavaria."
On the other end, Gamora's voice came sharp. "Ego's unhinged…"
"I know," Rocket cut in. "Get ready."
Rhino finally decided to help and also climbed in, getting a thankful nod from Yondu.
"Drop it, Kraglin!" Yondu barked.
On the Quadrant's flight deck, Kraglin yanked a lever hard enough to rattle the console.
The machine detached with a lurch. Ugly and bulbous, as it slipped from the Quadrant's hold and dropped toward the swirling colors of Ego's surface.
"I got a plan," Rocket announced, already strapping himself into the operator's seat.
Yondu's brow furrowed. "What is it?"
Rhino looking at the Planet, scanning the new enemy only listening with half an ear.
"It's pretty simple." Rocket began.
Tenno POV:
"So just to be clear, you just said we would fight a planet" the Racoon like creature asked Yondo flabbergasted. "His name seemed to be Rocket from what I heard, interesting Name" I thought as I finally ended the playing KO part I went with since I reconnected with my warframe, which I did because beings are way less cautious around you if they think you're out cold and you can gather intelligence way more easily that way, after I lost connection for the duration of the Jumps. From what I heard that was for the best though, the empty mind of my frame seemingly not being affected by the effects of the jumps. I sat straight up and looked at Yondo, also eager for the explanation to the statement he just pulled.
"Fighting a Planet huh, that's new" I thought before listening intently.
Yondu sighed as he knew this would come eventually.
"Yes boy, we are fighting a planet, now listen, it all started 40 years ago when Ego, a Celestial, came to me asking for his son" He explained. "He had been searching for him ever since he found out he existed and even tried to pay us more than we could ever dream of earning but the problem was, I never intended to give him Quill."
"Why is that" I asked curious.
"Well, let's just say, he wasn't the nicest guy, I brought him lots of his Kids, never cared to find out what happened to them, but once I did, I cared what happened to the one I had onboard. He killed them all without exception, so I decided to keep his son away and this to be the last mission I would take from him." Yondo explained further. "But apparently the little idiot made his way here anyway, so I guess it is our job to get him outta here again"
Rocket nodded as he understood.
"Yeah, that sounds about right, what's the plan then?" He asked.
Yondu looked down on him like he just said something stupid.
"We go in there, beat up everything on the inside and pick up quill as we go out again, nothing else to do really." He said shrugging.
"And you, big guy, your help wouldn't exactly be unappreciated" Yondu said as he looked at me.
I looked at him, then at the Planet we were about to fight against and activated my Voice Interface.
"A favor for A favor" I said while walking to the armory I found in the plans of the ship I researched bfore the jumps.
Observer POV:
Ego gathered his power, light blooming at his fingertips, as the door beside him exploded inward.
Splinters and shards skittered across the palace floor as Drax stepped through the wreckage, Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis at his side. Ego's gaze shifted toward them, but a deep rumble overhead pulled his attention.
He turned toward a tall window, and watched as a hulking laser drill punched through the palace wall, metal shrieking.
"Hey there, jackass," Yondu called from inside.
The drill came down on Ego with a deafening crash, flattening him into the floor. The tendril connecting him to Quill snapped away, and Quill collapsed, gulping air like a drowning man finally able to breathe again.
Drax, Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis ran into the crumbling hall.
The drill's side door slid open. Baby Groot stood framed in the light, smiling brightly and waving.
"Out of the way, dumber, smaller Groot," Drax grunted as he ducked inside.
Groot's face hardened. He began pounding his tiny fists against Drax's head, whether for the insult or on principle was to be interpreted.
Gamora knelt beside Quill, pulling him to his feet.
"I told you something didn't feel right," she said.
"'I told you so.' Exactly what I needed right now," Quill muttered.
"I came back, didn't I?"
"Because of the unspoken thing."
"There is no unspoken thing."
Inside the drill, Drax, Mantis, Gamora, and Quill crowded through the doorway.
"What were you thinking?" Drax barked. "You could have killed us all crashing in here like that!"
Rocket tilted his head. "Uh… 'Thank you, Rocket'?"
"We had it under control."
"We did not," Mantis corrected flatly. "That is only an extension of his true self. He will return soon."
Quill's eyes snapped to Nebula. "What's Smurfette doing here?!"
Then also looking confused at Rhino, sitting on the ground in a meditative pose, looking concentrated at Ego through the front Window.
"And who is that guy" he asked curious.
"Back rubs, dishes, killing gods, whatever it takes to get a damn ride home," Nebula replied.
"She tried to murder me!" Rocket barked.
"I saved you, you stupid fox."
"He's not a fox," Gamora said.
"I am Groot," Groot chimed in.
"I'm not a 'raboon' either!" Rocket snapped.
"I am Groot."
"'Raccoon,' whatever!"
"He a Prisoner that escaped with us, we picked him up at Berhert, very capable fighter, don't know how we were even able to capture him in the first place" Yondo replied to Peter's question while Rocket and Groot argued with each other.
"How capable" Drax asked, seemingly intrigued.
"Very" Rocket answered halfheartedly while Drax seemed to somehow be insulted by that statement.
"We will see" He said while peering out the viewport. Tendril-like strands erupted through the palace floor, curling around the drill.
"How do we kill a Celestial?" he asked.
"There's a center to him," Quill said. "Brain, soul, whatever it is, in some kind of shell."
"It's in the caverns beneath the surface," Mantis added.
Quill climbed the ladder toward the cockpit. "Yondu?"
Nebula's eyes flicked to Gamora. "If he's got that fin back, I'm screwed."
Yondu shoved the controls forward, lifting the ship. Tentacles lashed out, wrapping around the hull and yanking it back down. The palace's foundation gave way, the entire structure tilting with a groan of tortured stone.
Inside, everyone fell forward, grabbing for handholds.
"Thrusters are out!" Yondu shouted.
Quill dove into the wiring, hands moving fast. "Guess I should be glad I was a skinny kid. Otherwise you'd have handed me over to this maniac."
"You still reckon that's why I kept you, you idiot?!"
"That's what you told me, you old doofus!"
"Once I figured out what happened to the other kids, I wasn't gonna hand you over."
"You said you were gonna eat me!"
"That was being funny!"
"Not to me!!"
"You people have issues," Rocket muttered.
Quill glanced up through the windshield, and froze. Ego's skeletal form loomed ahead, its hollow eyes fixed on them.
"Of course I have issues," Quill said grimly. "That's my frickin' father… Thrusters are back up."
Instead of pulling up, he shoved the ship forward. The drill smashed through Ego's form, skidding down the palace's slanted floor, then burst through the enormous glass panel at the far end in a spray of light and shrapnel.
The drill screamed, yanking them into a drop that felt less like flying and more like ann endless roller coaster. Metal shuddered, the hull rattling.
"We should be going up, we got everyone don't we!" Yondu barked over the roar.
"We can't," Quill shot back, both hands locked on the controls. "Ego wants to wipe out the whole universe. We have to kill him."
Below, a jagged fissure tore through the planet's surface, too narrow for the drill to fit.
"Rocket!" Quill shouted.
"Got it."
Rocket's paws blurred over the laser controls. Twin beams ripped into the rock, chipping away stone just in time to widen the crack. Shards tumbled into the abyss as the drill dropped into the opening, barely squeezing through.
They plunged deeper, twisting through tunnels that closed in around them like a throat. Quill guided the ship with tight movements, rolling into each bend, scraping past rock walls by inches. Rocket's blasts coming in bursts, knocking away the obstacles before impacting.
"So," Rocket said between shots, "we're saving the galaxy again?"
"I guess," Quill muttered, eyes locked on the next turn.
"Awesome. We'll be able to jack up our prices if we're two-time galaxy savers."
"I seriously can't believe that's where your mind goes."
"It was just a random thought, man! I thought we were friends!" Rocket protested. "Of course I care about the planets, the buildings, all the animals…"
"And the people," Quill added.
Rocket's ears flicked. "Meh."
Mantis giggled, the sound oddly pure amid the chaos. "The crabby puppy is so cute he makes me want to die!"
Drax rumbled from his seat. "Your suicidal thoughts sadden me. But your wish will likely come true."
Out in the cold dark above the planet, the Quadrant drifted peacefully. On the flight deck, Kraglin lounged in the pilot's chair, a bowl of soup cradled in one hand as Wham Bam by Silver hummed through the speakers.
Something flickered at the edge of his view. He leaned forward, squinting, spoon paused halfway to his mouth.
Out beyond the glass, a shimmering wall of gold was descending from the jump point, hundreds of Sovereign envoy ships, wings catching the light as they dove. His eyes went wide.
He fumbled for the comm. "Uhh… Cap'n?"
Only static crackled back at him.
"Cap'n?" he tried again, voice with a higher pitch.
Deep inside the planet, the comm's muffled hiss went unheard over the roar of the drill. The narrow fissure twisted ahead, its walls glowing faintly with Ego's living light.
Yondu kept his gaze on Quill. "So why'd Ego want you here?"
Quill gritted his teeth. "He needs my genetic connection to the light to help destroy the universe. Tried to teach me how to control it."
"So could you?"
"A little. I made a ball."
Yondu blinked. "A ball?"
"I thought as hard as I could, that's all I came up with."
"You thought?" Yondu's tone sharpened.
Quill nodded.
"You think when I make this arrow fly I use my head?"
"What do you use?"
Neither of them were watching the tunnel ahead. The drill slammed into an overhanging slab of rock with a teeth-rattling crunch. Metal shrieked as the entire side door tore away, leaving a yawning gap in the hull.
The ship skidded through a tighter passage before bursting out into…
An immense hollow, the planet's heart laid bare. The space was cathedral-like, Ego's white glow running in vast rivers along the walls and arcing overhead.
The Guardians crowded to the open side, momentarily awed.
"Whoa," Gamora breathed.
Rhino finaly stoop up from his meditation pose and also went to the open wall, looking around.
On the far side, Mantis peered through a porthole, then jabbed a finger downward. "There! That's Ego's core."
Far below, nestled in a web of gleaming rock, the Self Chamber pulsed faintly. Quill angled them toward it.
"That ore's thick," Gamora said. "Rocket, we're gonna need the big laser."
Rocket's claws flew over the controls. The smaller side-lasers groaned along their tracks, locking together into one massive central barrel, the mega-laser.
"We must hurry," Mantis urged. "It will not take Ego long to find us."
"Keep it still!" Rocket barked.
Quill wrestled the steering, holding them steady, mostly. The ship was built for raw force, not finesse. The mega-laser roared to life, its beam biting into the chamber's protective shell. Rock bubbled and dripped away in molten streams.
"We drill into the center, we kill him," Quill said through clenched teeth.
Yondu's eyes flicked to a blinking light on the comm. He thumbed it. "What is it, Kraglin?"
Kraglin's voice came thin and nervous. "Um, remember that Ayesha chick?"
"Yeah, why?"
Yondu looked out through the front viewport, and his jaw tightened. Sovereign squadrons poured from cracks in the cavern's ceiling, golden ships fanning out like a swarm of angry hornets.
"Aw, hell."
Quill yanked the drill away from the Self Chamber as the first blasts struck.
The Sovereign opened fire in unison, their energy bolts hammering the hull. The mega-laser flickered, then died. The drill shuddered, lurching sideways.
The open door became an unwilling exit for Drax, Mantis, and Gamorawhich were flung out into open air. Nebula's fingers though, clamped onto the deck plating, Groot wrapped his roots around a support strut, while Rhino simply held himself in place by one arm, fingers dug deep into the metal wall.