Gamora, Peter Quill, and Rocket applied as instructors. Yondu signed up for security. Groot, according to his paperwork, wanted to be a gardener.
Gamora's file was clean to the point of being suspicious. Dark-skinned woman. Exceptional physical conditioning. Mastery of close-quarters combat, with a focus on blades. Origin listed as a remote, hard-to-reach city. On its own, none of that proved anything.
Then Rowan saw the name she had written.
Gamora.
That, combined with his earlier conclusions about Thanos and the way her abilities lined up far too neatly, left no room for doubt. Of course, the name itself wasn't incriminating. The galaxy was vast, and Earth knew nothing about Thanos's inner circle. Even seasoned raiders barely recognized her name. On Earth, it meant nothing at all.
Peter Quill's profile came next.
His address traced back to his childhood home on Earth, though the records had clearly been altered. No mention of his disappearance years ago. His listed abilities were enhanced physical performance beyond human norms and fluency in nearly every major Earth language.
He hadn't even bothered to change his name.
Rowan almost admired the nerve.
Quill's physiology checked out. Half-human, half-Celestial or not, even without awakening that latent power, his body far exceeded normal human limits. You didn't survive long among raiders otherwise, let alone trade blows with someone like Gamora.
As for the languages, Rowan strongly suspected advanced translation tech rather than genuine study.
Yondu's file was refreshingly honest by comparison. He claimed to be Quill's uncle. His ability was listed as precise control of a metallic projectile via sound cues.
Rocket identified himself as a mutant who had undergone severe morphological mutation. His intelligence, he claimed, was the result of extreme cognitive enhancement. He included a portfolio of inventions and mechanical modifications to back it up.
Groot was described as his brother. Another mutant. Significant physical mutation. Limited intelligence. Non-verbal.
To anyone familiar with mutants and Inhumans, none of this raised alarms. Drastic physical changes after awakening abilities were far from unheard of. A raccoon and a tree were unusual, but not impossible.
Charles, Logan, and the others had no reason to doubt it.
Rowan, however, smiled.
"Interesting," he murmured. "Let's see how this little circus plans to steal the Tesseract."
Their arrival added an unexpected spark of amusement to his otherwise quiet days of research. In another life, the Guardians of the Galaxy had been among his favorite stories.
More importantly, Gamora's presence opened doors.
She was Thanos's favored daughter. The one he trusted. If anyone could lead Rowan to Thanos's location, it was her.
The recent alien incursions had also left behind something useful. Ships. Functional ones. With the right preparation, a trip into deep space was no longer out of the question.
Rowan had already been considering it. Ending Thanos early. Erasing the threat before it matured.
This universe was unstable. Too many deviations. Too many ripples from his interference. Waiting for fate to unfold as expected was a fool's gamble.
And killing Thanos carried no moral weight.
The man had already slaughtered worlds beyond counting. Every planet he conquered lost half its population by random decree. No being in the universe had more blood on their hands.
That made the decision easy.
The alien invasion also gave rise to another idea.
The Earth Migration Plan.
Thanos's snap, in one possible future, erased half of all life. Horrific, unforgivable. But it also delayed something far worse.
Most galaxies and planets were shaped by the Celestials. They expanded the universe, seeded stars, built worlds. But the birth of a new Celestial required sacrifice. An entire planet. Every living thing on it.
Earth was no exception.
Deep within its core, a Celestial embryo was growing. Once the population crossed a critical threshold, it would awaken, consuming all life on the planet in the process.
In some realities, Titan had fallen the same way.
If Thanos died early, and Earth's population remained unchecked, the embryo would hatch within years.
The Earth Migration Plan was the answer.
If Earth connected with the wider galaxy, migration would follow naturally. People would leave for more advanced, more prosperous worlds. The population would drop. The embryo's growth would slow.
Ideally, it would stop altogether.
Celestials were not like Thanos. At their weakest, they rivaled Skyfathers. At their strongest, they brushed against multiversal forces. Rowan had no intention of drawing their attention before he was ready.
And he wasn't ready. Not yet.
"Apparition."
Rowan removed the Tesseract from the floating island's core and vanished, reappearing inside his office.
The cube was vital for instantaneous jumps and high-speed movement of the island, but even without it, the structure could still remain airborne. It simply wouldn't move nearly as fast.
He conjured a simple stand labeled TESSERACT and placed the cube on it, right on his desk.
Then he reached out mentally.
"Send the five applicants in."
Moments later, the door opened.
Gamora entered first, followed by Peter Quill, Yondu, Rocket, and Groot.
The instant their eyes landed on the glowing cube, every one of them stiffened. Pupils tightened. Hands twitched. Instinct screamed at them to act.
They resisted.
Because behind the desk sat Rowan Mercer.
Headmaster of the academy.
The monster who could become a thousand-meter giant.
Against something like that, even they understood the odds.
Perhaps only the Kree Sentry Corps, those colossal living weapons capable of tearing apart warships, could hope to match him.
And even that was uncertain.