"So, this here trinket's worth a hundred million units?" Yondu asked, looking at the bronze rod I handed over to him as payment.
"Indeed it is, and it's status on the market is worth far more than just mear units," the Brooker explained, now back to his distinguished and mildly condescending attitude, "what you hold in your hands sir is a weapon from the legendary forges of Nidavellir."
We were in the Brooker's office, said man standing in as a mediator for Yondu and me. Looked tired though, but that was understandable, considering his planet had been invaded by Thanos' army three days ago.
"Well can it do something special or..." he looked it over, "because it looks like a stupid rod to me."
"Twist the body and hold it away from you," I instructed.
Yondo looked unsure, but slowly did just that, causing the cylinder to explode into a bronze spear nearly a foot taller than the blue Ravager, "well I'll be damned."
"It's built to be indestructible and fires energy blasts out of the tip, strong and hot enough to blow through twenty inches of galactic standard steel, and titanium if you use a little extra force," I explained, "like a said, worth it."
"Well...it is mighty impressive," Yodu whistled, I eyed his arrow which began to glow red, he turned to us with a smile, "but it ain't a hundred million credits."
The Brooker looked offended, "I assure you, that weapon is well worth-"
"Quite," Yondu hissed, his arrow flying out of his quiver and stopping right under the Brooker's neck, he turned it me, "you must have more of these things right?"
"And if I do?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, then I suggest you hand them over," the arrow slowly moving towards me, "before we have ourselves a little accident."
I blinked, "wait...are you seriously threatening me? With...an arrow?"
"Trust me, this here arrow can kill you before you blink," Yondu smirked as the men standing behind him laughed, "now hand-"
Skit!
I swiped at the arrow, my stingers ripping through it like it was paper, "there, I blinked, now what?"
"W-what in hell?!" Yondu's eyes went wide, he dropped the spear and scrambled to grab up the pieces of his arrow, "you broke my damn arrow!"
I lowered my stingers against his neck and growled, "and I'll break a lot more if you don't leave. We had a deal, keep it, or I'll show you the reason I managed to kill a Leviathan single handedly," flexing a little of my venom blasts around my hands to mimic an aura of lightning.
"Boss," one Ravager whispered, they were scared, "the Lighting..."
"I know boy," Yondu hissed, he grabbed the fallen spear and snarled, turning to the Brooker, "you said this is worth a hundred million?"
The Brooker smirked, "indeed it is."
"Fine," Yondu tossed it to the man, the latter surprised, he then took out a data chip and placed it on the counter, "congratulations, you just got yourself a fancy spear. Now transfer the hundred million, all of it."
The Brooker grinned, "with pleasure," he took the chip and the spear to his backroom, looking ready to faint in joy.
"Boy, what's your name?" Yondu asked, sliding the pieces of his broken arrow into his hip holster.
"Peter," I replied.
Quill's eyes winded, "you Terran boy?"
I nodded, "yup...I'm from the same country Quill's from...speaking of which, I heard you people put a bounty on him."
"And? Got a problem with that?" Yondu hissed, though I could smell the fear hidden behind his bravado, he was weaponless, defenceless, and he knew it.
"He's part of my team now, I would appreciate it if you dropped it," I stressed the last two words, narrowing my eyes.
"And if I don't?" Yondu asked.
"Then every single bounty hunter that tries to claim his bounty will be coming face to face with the team that stopped a Child of Thanos and an invading armada by ourselves….surely you don't want all those people on your conscious?"
"I ain't much for guilt boy," Yondu hissed.
"Hm, well in any case, they'll come, they'll die. But I'm sure eventually they'll become annoying, and when they do we might just decided to solve the problem at the source," I stressed the word, "there isn't any reason for this grudge is there Yondu? Come on, surely you can see who...profitable being on our side can be?"
"Heh….you make a good point," Yondu whispered, turning to his squad, "what do you say boys?! We give Quill a break?! Can't blame the kid for double crossing us, we did raise him to be a Ravager!"
"Ya!" the replied, laughing at Yondu's comment. I smile, ignoring the fact they didn't have much choice at this point.
"Here you are," the Brooker then walked in, handing Yondu his credit chip, "all done. I trust you are satisfied with this exchange?"
Yondu took the chip and after checking his account balance grew a grin that threatened to split his face open, "perfect," he turned to me, narrowed his eyes, "see you around...kid," turning away he and his team left, already yelling about how to spend their new wealth.
"Do you think it's wise to let a man such as him gain so much money?" the Brooker asked once the doors to his store shut done and the grill gate came down, "he is, after all, a Ravager."
"Maybe, but I needed his help and he came, if I didn't keep my end of the bargain it wouldn't look good," I replied, "last thing I need is more people crawling up my ass and disturbing my team...we're standing on a shaky argument as it is, can't risk us breaking apart….thank you for this, your preakness helps smooth things over."
"Please think nothing of it, it's the least I can do after you saved my world," the Brooker smiled pleasantly, though I smelt the underlying feeling of fear and greed he gave off. He couldn't say no to my request and more importantly, he couldn't say no to a chance to own more of my weapons.
"Besides," I shrugged, "what's he going to do with that much of money? Probably spend it all on drinks and robot whores. Maybe a new ship."
"Or a system," the Brooker schoffed, turning to his country to work on something.
I blinked, "wait, what? Did just say system?"
"Yes Sir Parker," the Brooker replied as he took out his data pad, "Xander has a particularly large market, both legal and illegal. If one wishes they can find and buy anything they want, even a planet or system."
"Wait, how is that even possible?" I asked, clearly confused.
"Well, you see companies can and do send out private explorers and the like to outside worlds, and if one such world is undiscovered they can lay claim to said world, as long as it is within their right. If another lay claim to it then...well, things get messy. But as long as it's unhibaitated then you may claim the system."
"Is it...legal?"
"Yes, it is," the Brooker replied, "why I myself have a few systems in my name, mostly for recreational purposes, but they do have their uses."
"Huh….so….out of curiosity...how much would a system cost?"
An hour later:
"You what?!" Sue cried out. Everyone in the living room of our new apartment flinched. Rocket covered his ears, Groot just laughed, Quill and Gamora looked confused while Felicia, Wanda and Johnny seemed to be enjoying this too much for their own good.
I flinched, the shorter blonde managed to make my feel much smaller than I really was. I gulped, "I-ah, well, I mean, I figured why not? It wasn't that expensive so….."
"You spent a hundred million on it!" Sue cried out, "that's all our money!"
"Hey! In my defence that wasn't form our account, I just sold another weapon to the Brooker and he covered everything for me," I tried to say, only for Sue's glare to heaten up. I gulped, "I-I….I'm sorry."
Just then Logan walked in, his favorite mug of ale in hand, and right behind him was Kortta, both of whom looked like they had spend the whole day in bed….which they did.
"What's with all the noise," Logan growled, "can't get a decent night's rest."
"We weren't doing much resting in the first place James," Kortta rolled her eyes, her smile almost blinding with pride.
"Peter bought a system!" Sue cried out.
"A what?" Logan grumbled, sipping his drink.
"A planetary system," Johnny explained, "he bought one."
"You can do that?" Logan blinked, obviously surprised.
"Yes, they are quite cheap," Kotta explained as she plopped down next to Felicia, one leg over the other, "how much did you spend?"
"A hundred million units!" Sue cried out.
Korra's eyes widened, "that's a lot, what did you get?"
I gulped, still a little nervous at my impulse buy. I took out the contract shaky and Sue grabbed it from my hand, reading out loud, "Peter Parker of Terran is now the proud owner the planetary system QIW81-39918, located in the galaxy of….I can't read this word."
"Oh, that's their name for the Milky Way," I explained, "they ah...have funny names."
Sue glared and returned to the document, "the system contains a total of nine planets, three of which are habitable by carbon based life forms. Peter what the shit?!"
"Hey! You tell me the idea of owning a planet isn't tempting!" I cried back, "besides, it was a wise investment."
"May I?" Kortta offered, Sue passed the deed and the woman looked over the systems I had wisely purchased, "he's correct, this is a smart investment…" Sue glared while I smirked, "for a war lord."
"Pardon?" my smile dropped.
"The system is rich with resources and other material needed to build an army," Kortta replied, passing me the deed, "if you so wish, and have the needed resources, you can build yourself an armada with the resources in each planet. Not to mention the fertile three habitable planets you have can serve as a base of operations."
"Oh….I see," I looked down at the map of my system, it certainly had potential, "and, not to mention it's only 50 light years from Earth. It would take us like less than an hour by ship to get home. And, not to mention the fact that if I can perfect short distance teleportation we could travel between home and the system almost instantly! Plus, come on! It's so cool!"
Sue looked at the document and sighed, "fine...I suppose it's...fine," I cheered internally, "but next time Peter you consult me before making such a rash decision, deal?"
"Deal!" I nodded.
"Alright, with that over," Felicia got up and grabbed the pad, "now we get to the fun part."
"What's that?" Johnny asked.
"Names!"
Five hours later:
"What about America?" Carol spoke up.
"Boo!"
"Fuck you!"
"That sounds like a girl's name!" Drax laughed.
"Alright alright, just trying to give a suggestion!" Carol rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up.
"Honestly woman, can you be more of a soldier?" Johnny asked, snorting as he took a chip and munched on it, Carina following his lead, though still unused to the rich food of Xandar.
We had been at this for five hours, eventually it just became a party as everyone brought food and drinks and we all sat down in the living trying to decide what the name of the planets I recently bought should be.
Felicia was curled up by my side, grinning like a loon, enjoying the chaos she had unleashed onto the group. I kissed her brow, holding her close, "alright, fine, any other ideas? If not..."
"No way," Jessica hit my shoulder, curled up on my other side, "you already got to name the star and two planets, you got enough chances."
"Ah I did buy it didn't I?"
"And?" Jessica ignored me. I rolled my eyes, but I suppose she was right, I did name enough of them. The star I named Lee…..Star Lee…..get it? I'll see myself out.
The planet next to the star was called Ditko, in honour of Steve Ditko and the third planet from the star, which was habitable, I called Arachno. Since then we all developed into a free for all naming battle, all trying, and failing, to get a name across.
We managed to only name three more planets, the second planet was called Mustafar, in lieu of Star Wars, where Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader, and the seventh planet from Lee we named Hoth, another Star Wars references.
The fourth planet from the star was habitable, but was covered by 98% water, obviously we decided to call it Atlantis. Was it original? No, but it was funny since Atlantis was real, not that anyone except me knew that.
"Okay, okay, I got it," Johnny spoke up, "how about...Fantastico!" We all turned to him, a look of utter disbelief in our eyes. Johnny sighed, "worth a shot…."
We chuckled, Rocket then suggested calling one planet Deathroid, obviously people disagreed. But while all that was going on I noticed Bill sitting quietly off to one corner, looking..thoughtful. I felt like hitting myself in the head, here I was boating about owning three planets when that guy doesn't even have one for his people.
I'm such a dick.
"Bill," I called out, he looked up, "what was your planet's name again?"
The alien looked surprised, but replied, "Korbin. It was called Korbin."
I nodded, taking the data pad and tapping on the third hospitable planet on the map, typing a name in, 'Korbin II'. Everyone looked at the holographic monitor displaying the newly named planet, no one objected.
Bill in particular looked shocked, "when you find them, you'll need a place to put them," I told him, "from what you told me this planet is the closest in resemblance to your home. What do you think?"
"I-I do not know what to say," Bill said slowly, "as you sure this is a wise choice Peter? A planet is-is-"
"-Expensive?" Carina suggested.
Bill sighed, nodding, "yes, it is a very rich present to give Peter….I-"
"-Just promise me your people don't pollute and destroy this one," I chuckled, "going for a more economical civilization here."
"I-I-"
Just then the doorbell rang out, Quill being the closest to the door, got up and answered it, "hello, how can-holy shit!"
We all got up as Quill stepped aside, revealing Nova Prime herself standing outside, with several guards standing behind her. Logan had his claws out, Wanda and Jessica both grew alert, ready to fight.
"Nova Prime, this is unexpected," Carol stepped forward, standing between us and her, "can we...help you?"
"Yes, may I come in?" Nova Prime asked, flashing a disarming smile at us all.
Carol turned to me, raising an eyebrow, I nodded as we all moved aside, letting Nova Prime and her small army into the already cramped flat. We in turn were backed up against the destroyed far wall of the flat, which Felicia blew up when she took out the Liberty to attack the Chitauri.
"This flat is quite small," the woman noted, looking around, "how do eighteen of you live in such a restricted environment?"
Logan snorted, "we cuddle," earning a chuckle from Quill.
"I see," Nova Prime drooled out, "either way...I come today not to cause trouble, as I've told you before all your criminal records have been expunged from our records, you all are not criminals, so you have nothing to worry from me."
"They are more than just 'not criminals'," Carina replied, her eyes narrowed in rage, "they are heroes. You best understand that."
"Carina," Johnny warned, a smell of fear and worry rosed up around him.
"No, she is correct," Prime admitted, a smile coming out in full force, a smile that I immediately recognized to be as honest as a politician's back on Earth, "and that is why we want you to stay."
We were all shocked. "Say what now?" Tandy blinked, sharing our surprise.
"After news of your defeat of Thanos' army spread even the Kree ceased firing," Prime said, sounding almost ecstatic, "after hearing about a team of heroes, lead by the Rouge Kree warrior Vers," motioning to Carol, "they immediately began renegotiating the terms of the peace agreement. Your team stopped a war, a war that could have been much longer and bloodier."
"Well...you're welcome," Quill smirked much more confident than before, "it's what we do, save planets and stuff."
"But why do you want us to stay?" Jessica asked, narrowing her eyes, "unless-"
"-You want to make us you mascots," Logan spoke up, everyone detering to the veteran of over a dozen wars, "a poster child for the Nova Empire. Am I wrong?"
"No, you are not," Prime replied, her eyes narrowing on Logan for a second before he smiling demeanor came back, "like your companion said, we want to make you citizens of the Nova Empire, and with your help, we can prevent a tragedy like the Chitauri invasion from ever happening again….what say you?"
She looked at Carol, who frankly looked confused, "ah….well, I mean, I'm all for it but, I'm not the leader here, you know that right?"
Prime nodded, "yes, but you see, he isn't...well...the great Vers is a much more...fitting image of a leader than some unknown child from a back water world."
"I'm also from said backwater planet Prime," Carol hissed.
"Apologizes, but you know I'm right, yes?" Prime said, "the galaxy knows you, they fear you and love you. You are an angel to some and demon to others. With you and this team...no one would ever invade our home again."
"And if we say no?" I challenged.
Prime narrowed her eyes, "then I must ask you to leave."
"Why?!" Rocket cried out, "we just saved the whole damn planet!"
"Because you are too great a threat to left unchecked," Prime replied, "so you have a choice, join us...or leave. If you will not be a part of the Nova crops than others will think us weak...they will use this to their advantage."
"So we save your ass, and in return you're just going to kick us out?" Quill said angrily, "yeah right, how's that fair?!"
"Quill, they are right," Gamora spoke up, her eyes narrowing, "we drew attention to ourselves by defeating Thanos...we best leave, or else he will come for us...and many more innocents will be hurt as a result."
"So, we're fugitives, again?" Rocket rubbed his eyes, "great, just great."
"I understand you feel insulted, but I do not see any other way, so please," the many Nova officers behind her raised an aimed their weapons at us, "do not make me use force."
BAMN!
A shockwave of red telekinetic energy exploded out from Wanda, blasting every single Nova officer away, hitting our apartment walls, leaving Nova Prime alone standing.
"I'm sorry, you were saying?" Wanda asked, her eyes glowing a bright red. She grew ready to blast Prime also when Felicia stepped in, placing a calming hand on her shoulder, causing Wanda to slowly power down to normal.
"I know I cannot defeat you," Prime cleared her throat, "you….you all are the greatest threat to the galaxy I have ever seen. A group of individuals such as you are not to be taken lightly, but I beg you, please….leave."
The others seemed angry, so was I if I was honest, but before anyone said anything, I nodded, "I understand," everyone seemed surprised, "we were planning on leaving anyway, we'll be out of your hair."
"Peter!" Sue cried out, "this isn't right!"
"Sue, we can't stay here much longer anyway," I reasoned with her, "or did you forget the reason we came into space in the first place? We've kept Jean waiting long enough, it's time to go."
The woman didn't seem to like it, but she accepted my reasoning. I turned to Prime and nodded, she ordered her men, those still concious, to stand down and drag away their unconscious colleagues.
It took us around an hour to pack up all our stuff from the apartment and put it away. Logan said goodbye to Kortta, both of them agreeing ti was best to depart on decent terms rather than forcing something. It was...mature of them.
We made it to the spaceport where Quill kept his ship, climbing into the Milano and docked in the cargo bay of said ship was the Liberty, turned off, serving as a ship within a ship.
Quill, Rocket, Gamora, Felicia and Sue got into the Milano's cockpit, with Quill getting into the pilot's seat and Rocket as co-pilot. The moment we were given permission to launch we were out of there, Xandar becoming smaller and smaller as we flew into space.
"Set coordinates for Prevor-2344," I explained, passing the coordinates from my system to his, "that's our only clue so far."
"Clue for what?" Rocket asked, "you know, you never told us who exactly you're looking for."
"Jean," Felicia explained, "our girlfriend."
Quill blinked, "wait, 'our'?" he turned, looking between Felicia and me, "you mean you two-"
"-Yes," I nodded.
"So, three?"
Felicia rolled her eyes, "yes...for now anyway," she whispered the last bit, though I heard her.
"...Damn, alright," Quill turned to me, "good luck with that man."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"Most people think having more chicks is a blessing, trust me, it is not," Quill snorted.
"Or maybe you just can't handle them," I smirked.
"Hey, I'll have you know I can handle anything!" Quill replied, "now shut it! I'm trying to fly here!"
"It's going to take three days to get there," Sue spoke up, reading off the navigations control.
"Well what are we going to do for three days?!" Rocket cried out.
Felicia shrugged, "you could use the Danger room, or maybe the lab."
"Wait...Danger Room?"
A few days later:
Traveling in space was...borning to say the least. Well, for the rest of the crew.
Bill, Logan and Drax hit the gym, or rather training room. They were obsessed with fighting and once Drax learnt there was a setting to adjust the gravity in there he went nuts trying to one up both Bill and Logan.
We all started calling them the Gym bros.
Johnny, Sue and Rocket spent most of their time in the lab, Sue working on a formula that would prevent interspecie sexually transmitted diseases, obviously Johnny's new beau was on her mind, and Johnny and Rocket got to work making weapons, which, well, Sue didn't approve off but admitted it was needed, especially since we were now flying solo.
Carol and Jessica seemed to spark something of a friendship as the two was seen hanging out more and more often. The two women were robbed of their time on Earth and bonded over their shared experience of working for the bad guy, Carol with the Kree and Jessica for HYDRA.
Gamora took to training, gaining Scott as a student in hand to hand combat, the mutant boy knowing he had much to learn and that his physique needed more training and who better to teach him the the galaxy's deadliest assassin?
Rogue, Wanda and Tandy went back to the library, Felicia and Carina spent most of their time playing on the few galactic videos games Quill had on board, I was seriously regretting not getting a playstation or something for the ship.
Which left me….well, free. And while I love my crew, who I frankly think kicks the ass of any other team out there, I was a solitary creature by design, I needed my own private research time.
I took the furthest bedroom in the corridor and converted it into my personal lab, inside of which I deposited all my equipment and possession. Over the last few days I had worked on the suits for the rest of the team, suits which would enhance their abilities, it took me a day to finish designing them all, leaving it up to the machines to finishing returning them.
I then turned to my own suit. It was still...wonky to say the least.
It took me a while to analyse it and understand why this thing failed as it did. The answer was simple….I didn't know.
The fact is there was so much about my powers I didn't know about. So many factors at play here that I couldn't even begin to explain where my powers came from let alone what the result of using them were.
Thor's blood, did it give me just lightning or something more? Did it change me so fully that even unstable molecules were affected? I didn't understand, what I did know is that the vibranium nano tech i was using got fried.
I had to replace the internal systems and while it was possible, it was going to take some time, and it would pointless if I didn't understand why it happened so as to prevent it from happening again.
Freaking magic.
I tried testing my powers with a standard UMF suit and found it able to stand up to the lightning. My guess is that since the nanobots in my suit got fried they started behaving poorly, a UMF suit which can only transform and have no need for nanobot to keep me together would be fine.
For now, it seemed I would be going back to the UMF suit until I could fix my nanosuit. Which was fine….going to miss the nanobots though.
I had it take on my classic suit design, a black and red spider suit without a mask, I wouldn't need it anymore. I also took to wearing the Thriller jacket Felicia got for me, helped me pull off the intergalactic space captain thing I was going for.
I then got working on a side project, something I got into my mind after I purchased the Marvel system, yes, that's what I decided to call the system I bought. Felicia didn't like it either. Carol was flattered, until I told her it had nothing to do with her moniker.
It was some time later when I received a call from the bridge, "Peter, you might want to come and look at this," came Quill's panic stricken voice.
I rushed out of the lab, locking it behind me, running up through the ship and out into the Milano's cargo hold. By the time I reached the cockpit, everyone had already gathered as we were all staring out the window in the face of the planet below, Prevor- 2344.
It was shattered, the surface of the planet had been cracked open like an egg. Bits and pieces of the planet drifted off into space, the core of the planet was explored, burning red as the magma slowly cooled down, the black tar of obsidian gathered around it's edges.
"What happened to it?" Wanda asked, terror in her voice.
"Peter, I'm picking up an cosmic energy signature that matches the data we have on the Phoenix," Sexy sounded off on the PA, "Ms. Grey was here."
"Jean did that?" Scott asked, fear creeping up on all of us, "s-she destroyed a planet? Why?!"
"This is what you're going after?!" Quill cried out, "what can do this?!"
"A force of nature," I whispered, but something didn't add up. I groaned, "but….this doesn't make any sense, Jean isn't...the Phoenix can destroy and is good at it, but it wouldn't do so without reason."
"Whatever the reason, it's clear we don't have a lead anymore," Logan grunted, sipping from his ale, "this thing...Parker, are you sure you can take it?"
"I know I can," I replied, the image of my secret weapon coming up in my mind, "but you're right, we don't have a lead anymore...damn it!" I smashed my fist against Quill's ship denting the hull.
"Hey! Watch it!" Quill cried out, "unlike you, I actually still need to pay off my loan! Crazy rich bags."
"What about the Shi'ar empire?" Sue suddenly spoke up, gaining everyone's attention, "the Brooker said they kept track of the Phoenix didn't he? If that's' the case then they are probably who we should speak to next."
I groaned, "I don't know much about them...and given our status in the galaxy I...can we risk it?"
"The Shi'ar Empire is a proud war loving nation," Gamora explained, "even Thanos takes caution when fighting against them, often using guerilla tactics rather than straight on battles like he did in Xandar...they are dangerous, but honorable….though I admit the recent talks of their emperor have not been-"
BOOM!
The entire ship jerked to the side as we got hit by something loud. "What the shit?!" Johnny cried out, "what hit us?!"
"A ship just came out of warp and is firing on us," Quill exclaimed as he hit the theaters, "I'm taking the ship into the debris of the planet, we can hopefully avoid whoever it is there!"
"I'll man the cannons," Gamora said, quickly moving out.
"I'll join you!" Jessica said, following the assassin.
"Carol, can you breath in space?" I turned to our biggest weapon on hand.
"Not without my suit," Carol explained.
I clicked my teeth, turning to the terminal I began typing away until I managed to get an image of the rear camera on the ship to track and display what exactly was coming for us.
It was a ship shaped like a gun with an elongated hammer pin, a curved tapering hand grip and two thin wings placed on the side making it look similar to a solar sail.
"What is that fucking thing?" Felicia asked as it fired at us over and over, only missing by a hair's breadth.
"Good flying," Johnny patted Quill's shoulder.
"That was me!" Rocket cried out, pissed off.
"It's a Shi'ar design," Carina spoke up, looking at the image with narrowed eyes, "but it doesn't bare the markings of the empire...it's odd."
"Stolen?" Felicia waggered.
"Possible," Carina nodded.
"Pirates," Drax hissed, "I hate pirates."
"...Quill," Scott turned, "let them board us."
"What?!" everyone cried out at once.
Scott flinched, "look, like it or not we aren't the best in space fights, and prolonging this will do nothing but damage our ship. Let them come on board and then we can take them out."
We all shared looks before agreeing, I had to admit, there was a reason Scott Summers lead the X-men.
"Alright, for the record, I say this is a crazy plan and I think it's totally going to fail," Quill spoke up, "I'm hailing them our surrender now."
"Quill! Why are we surrendering?!" Gamora cried out through eh coms.
"When they board us we'll take them," I quickly replied, cutting off the communication.
We all felt nervous as Quill took us in, bringing the ship down slowly next to a giant asteroid that might have once been a flat plateau on the planet below us. He turned off the system and the pirate ship chasing us approached.
They moved cautiously at first to see if it was a trick, upon discovering it wasn't they swooped in and the ship jerked to the side thanks to a tractor beam. There was a loud snap as the ship's hull was magnetically locked to the pirate's.
"They opened the airlock, their coming for us," Quill said as he unstrapped himself, guns out.
"No," Logan smirked as he released his claws, "we're coming for them."
"Capture them," I ordered, "if they stole the ship form the Shi'ar Empire that means they could know how to get passed their security. We need them alive. That means Johnny, you and Scott can't use your powers."
"What? Why not?!" Johnny asked. We all gave him a blank look.
"It's because you cause too much damage Johnny," Carina replied a sweet caring smile on her face that seemed to melt all of Johnny's protest.
We walked down the corridor, Logan leading the way, until we reached the end to the airlock and came upon what had to be the strangest looking pirates I have ever seen in my entire life.
There was a giant lizard man that matched Groot in size, covered with scales and a half hearted glare and black pants with purple highlights and a pair of boots. He looked like if Hulk and Killer Croc in space.
A white skinned woman with silver hair that came down till her hips, dressed in skin tight clothes, a shoulderless black top with blue pants and brown shoes, a blade in each hand. She didn't have skin, instead her body was covered in fur and behind her was a long silver tail….whatever, I don't even care.
Then came this half organic, half cyber looking humanoid with a blaster in each hand. He had a black suit over his organic side byt the silver metal of his robot body was exposed with heavy gauntlets and boots, he held a vacant if not robotic look.
And the final one seemed the most normal, looked fairly human, but in our galaxy that could mean anything. He had a full beard that came down that grew in thick with pepper white hair mixed in with his natural brown. He looked around fifty and wore a black and red suit with a blue scarf around his neck and a yellow belt with a blade strapped to it and a blaster in one hand.
"Greetings ladies and gents!" the human looking guy smiled, "I am the great pirate Corsair! Leader of the Starjammers! We, are pirates! So if you please, all the credits on boards, any fine jewels and such like finery and also every single weapon you have onboard."
"Holy shit!" Quill cried out, almost screaming in joy, "you're Corsair! Guys! He's Corsair!"
"Ah, a fan!" the man chuckled.
"Oh great," the lizardman rolled his eyes, "he found a fan."
"He's not going to stop for a week," the silver haired furry sighed, rubbing her eyebrows.
"Oh come of it! It's not my fault I'm amazing!" the one calling him Corsair commented, grinning like a loon.
"Quill? Explain," I asked.
"That's Corsair!" Quill cried out, "you know! Corsair! Intergalactic pirate and legendary bounty hunter! He escaped from the slave pits of Shi'ar empire and-gasp! You're the Starjammers!"
"Ah-"
"-They're this group of pirates that were former slaves turned awesome butt kickers! Yondu used to tell me stories about them! They would rob from the criminals of the galaxy and use it to help the needy and-gasp! Are you here to rob us?! Oh my God you are aren't you?! You're here to rob us! Quick, Johnny, grab a camera and get a picture of me and Corsair!"
"Quil! Not the time!" Carol cried out.
"So I take it your a fan?" Corsair asked, "well if you are then I'll cut you a deal, I'll only take half, how about that?"
Quill looked like he had just gotten an adrenaline shot to the heart, "gasp! You mean it?!"
"Quill!" we all cried out.
"YAH!" Gamora suddenly jumped down from the rafters, sword flying out as she swung it down at Corsair.
TANG!
The white furry stepped in, smirking as she blocked Gamora with her own blades, "I smelt you coming, you're slow."
"That's Hepzibah!" Quill cried out, "she's like this ninja assassin! She can cut people's faces off and skin them alive with her talons and she can smell like super far! She's like a lion on two legs!"
"Ya!" Gamora growled as she and the cat lady got into a brawl, Gamora kicked at her head, only for Hepzibah to jump over it grabbing Gamora's leg with her own and using it as a leaping board to jump behind her and land in a couch.
Hepzibah spun around, blades ready to slice at Gamora, only for two web lines to grab her wrists and pull her aside. The cat lady looked up, just in time to jump away from Jessie who dropped kick down, smashing the grill floor.
Gamora and Jessica circled Hepzibah, the three women eyeing each other, Jessica rotated her wrist, the web shooters I had given her would take some adjusting.
And then, like a spin on a dime, the moved, leaping at each other, Gamora struck at Hepzibah's blades before sweeping her leg, the cat lady somersault and landed on her feet before quickly jumping back to avoid Jessica's own kick.
They began to fight faster than any normal human ever could, even Natasha would have had trouble keeping up with these three super human. Gamora got hit in the ribs, Jessica in the knee while Hepzibah got a web to the face and a shallow cut on her hand.
"Alright, I had enough to this, Wanda, grabbed the girls, I'll blast the cat," I held out a hand, Wand and I moved as one and the three fighters were suddenly thrown up into the air before summoned back to their respective sides.
"We had her," Jessica glared up at me.
"I know, but the idea is to not kill her," I replied, stepped forward, "look ah," I turned to Quill.
"Starjammers," he eagerly supplied, wiping away the drool forming on the corner of his mouth.
"Right, Starjammers, listen, we aren't hiding anything valuable, and even if we do, you all are clearly outmatched and out numbered," I explained.
"Oh, I think we can take you," Corsair smirked, turning to the big guy, "isn't that right Ch'od?" the lizard man grinned, cracking the knuckles of his giant fists.
"We got one of those too," I motined to Groot.
"I am Groot."
"He is Groot."
"We have a sharpshooter who can blast the wings of a fly," Corsair pointed to his cyborg.
"I can blast through the hulls of ships," Carol supplied.
"Which I'm asking you again not to do!" Quill quickly hissed.
"Ah...well….maybe a truce would be everyone's best of interests," Corsair said slowly, eyeing Carol, "the Kree rebel, Vers...so that must mean this is you team. If I'm correct you stopped the invasion of Xandar, yes?"
"Ah, yeah," Carol shrugged sending me an apologetic look. I rolled my eyes, how much older do I gotta look before people start taking me seriously?!
"Well...then we certainly are outmatched huh?" Corsair replied nervously, putting his guns away, motioning to his allies to do the same, "now then, how exactly can we help you today my fine lady?" earning a growl from Hepzibah who seemed to glare at Carol.
"What happened to the planet below us?" I spoke up, cutting between Corsair and Carol.
"And who might you be young man?" the pirate asked, "haven't heard of you before."
"I'm new," I shrugged, "now, the planet?"
"Now now, it's proper edicate to introduce yourself properly when meeting someone new, didn't your mother teach you that?"
"She's dead," I replied flatly.
"Then I'll teach you!" he replied, not missing a beat, "I am Corsair! Legendary pirate and outlaw from the planet Earth! You may know it as Terran!"
"Wait, you're from Earth too?!" Johnny cried out, "what the shit?! Why is it that everytime we do something we think no other human has done before, suddenly a human come up who has?! How many humans are in space anyway?!"
"Oh, you all are from Earth as well?" Corsair asked surprised, "where are you from?"
We all looked at each other before replying, "America."
"Sokovia," Wanda was the only one to say different.
"Outstanding!" Corsair replied, looking almost ecstatic, "I'm from the old old USA as well! Of course back then I went by another name, another life."
"What's your real name?" I asked out of curiosity, wondering just who this person was.
"Major Christopher Summers," the man struck a grin, "airforce, happened upon an alien ship during one of my flights, changed my life forever!"
"Wonder where I heard that before," I said, turning to Carol, who looked just as surprised at we did at the coincidence.
"W-wait," Scott suddenly said, "say that again."
Corsair looked confused, "hm? Say what again?"
"MY-your name, say it again!" Scott practically screamed.
"Christopher Summers," Corsair replied, looking confused, "why? Do I know you?"
"No...no!" Scott cried out, taking several steps back, "it's not true! Stop lying!" I smelt fear, panic, anger, rage, boiling rage come up from inside Scott as tears streamed down from behind his goggles.
"Scott! You okay?!" Rogue immediately leapt to her boyfriend's side, grabbing hold of him, only for him to pull his hand away, almost afraid to be touched.
"You died! I saw you die!" Scott cried out, "you died an-and so did Alex! You can't be alive!"
Corsair's eyes widened, they teared up as the next word out of his mouth took us all for a spin, "s-son?