Star-Lord felt a familiar helplessness watching Drax charge recklessly at the beast, though he wasn't surprised—Drax always threw himself into the fray without hesitation, even when they faced Ronan. What Star-Lord couldn't understand was Drax's choice of weapons. With his strength and size, Drax was more suited to wielding a hammer or an axe, not two short blades that didn't even suit his speed.
With a wild battle cry, Drax lunged at the massive beast, his twin blades only scratching its tough hide. Gamora and Nebula weren't idle either, joining in with their own blades. Star-Lord couldn't help but think his blaster was far more effective than all their knives combined.
Energy bullets from Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon's weapons began to bombard the beast, but its thick, armored skin absorbed the hits with little effect. Neither the energy blasts nor the blades managed to slow its advance.
With an angry roar, the beast swung its huge body toward Gamora, Nebula, and Drax. Drax managed to resist for a moment, but Gamora and Nebula were sent flying. Drax soon followed, tumbling next to them.
But just as the creature lunged toward Rocket, Groot stepped between them, planting his sturdy arms firmly around the beast to hold it in place.
"Nice work, Groot! Tear it apart!" Rocket shouted, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
"I am Groot!" Groot responded, his branches growing rapidly to wrap around the creature. But despite his incredible strength and the sharpness of his vines, he still couldn't penetrate the beast's thick skin.
Though Groot's branches could usually pierce even metal, they barely scratched the beast. Yet he held it firmly, preventing it from moving any closer to the others.
Suddenly, Drax returned and charged straight into the monster, colliding with it so hard that it slipped free from Groot's grasp.
"I am Groot?!" Groot was stunned. If he didn't know better, he'd think Drax was working with the beast.
"Don't worry about it; Drax does this all the time," Rocket reassured Groot, urging him to trap the creature again so they could all attack together.
But just as Rocket spoke, the beast snarled and snapped at Drax. To everyone's shock, instead of dodging, Drax leaped straight into the creature's mouth.
"Drax?!" Star-Lord and the others cried out, their eyes wide with horror. Groot immediately extended his branches, wrapping around the creature once more to keep it in place.
"Spit Drax out, you monster!" Star-Lord shouted, charging his blaster.
Despite the threats, the beast continued thrashing, trying to break free from Groot's hold. Star-Lord and the others started firing, aiming carefully to avoid hitting Drax, who was somewhere inside the creature's belly.
Groot found a weak spot and began focusing his attacks on the beast's eyes and mouth, managing to draw blood. The yellow liquid oozed from the creature's wounds, allowing Star-Lord and the others to intensify their attacks.
Then they heard a familiar laugh echoing from within the beast. Realizing Drax was still alive—and enjoying himself—brought a mix of relief and exasperation. It seemed the creature's insides weren't nearly as tough as its exterior, and Drax was carving his way out from within.
Soon enough, Drax managed to slice open the beast's belly, spilling more of the yellow ichor. With its armored hide compromised, the creature became vulnerable, and Drax and Groot took the lead, relentlessly assaulting its weakening body. Star-Lord and Rocket took occasional shots from a distance, while Gamora and Nebula hung back, unwilling to wade into the creature's gory remains now that its fate was sealed.
Unbeknownst to them, a pair of eyes was watching from the shadows, carefully observing Star-Lord.
"He hasn't awakened to my power yet. There's no trace of godly energy within him," the observer muttered. It was none other than Ego, Star-Lord's biological father, whom Yondu had feared. He watched his son's team with interest.
"But there are rumors linking him to the downfall of the Kree Empire…" Ego continued, "though I felt the presence of an Eliminator near the Kree Empire, which suggests Arishem passed judgment. I wonder who was powerful enough to engage with an Eliminator…"
Ego pondered the mystery, unable to determine the identity of this unknown warrior. Meanwhile, Star-Lord and his team finally defeated the creature, completing their mission.
"Stay back, you two. Go clean yourselves up first!" the Sovereign representative called out to Drax and Groot, both covered in thick, yellow slime.
"What did you just say?" Rocket's eyes narrowed in anger; he could tolerate insults to himself, but not to Groot.
"Let it go, Rocket," Star-Lord whispered, subtly hinting at Rocket's earlier plan to swipe one of the Sovereign's energy cells. Given the Sovereign's arrogance, Star-Lord was all for teaching them a lesson now.
The Guardians split up, with Star-Lord, Gamora, and Nebula going to claim their reward while Rocket, Groot, and Drax headed to clean up.
When they arrived at the payment area, they found only the representative from before, who promptly transferred the funds. "This is your reward, but it's also the last time we'll work together. Your methods and behavior are… unsuitable for our standards."
"Fine with us. We don't plan on coming back to your planet either," Star-Lord replied coolly. Even Nebula, aware of Rocket's scheme, managed to suppress a smirk, finding the Sovereign's obliviousness amusing.
Not long after, Star-Lord's communicator beeped. He glanced at Gamora and Nebula, signaling for them to activate their wrist devices. A transport beam enveloped them, and they were teleported back to their ship.
"Strange… they seemed unusually calm about leaving," the Sovereign representative muttered, watching the Guardians' ship rise into the sky. He thought nothing of it—at least until alarms started blaring throughout the Sovereign complex.
"Alert! Energy cells have been stolen! Alert! Energy cells have been stolen!" The warning echoed across the planet, and panic spread among the Sovereign.
The representative was struck by sudden realization. "High Priestess Ayesha! It was the Guardians who stole our energy cells! They're nothing more than greedy thieves!"
"Send ships after them!" Ayesha commanded with icy fury. "Capture or destroy them!"
In response, the Sovereign launched countless remotely controlled drones, the skies filling with a swarm of fighter ships.
Back on their own ship, the Guardians had just begun celebrating when alarms warned of incoming threats.
"Seriously? They won't fight a monster, but they're willing to chase us across space?" Star-Lord muttered in disbelief.
"Less talk, more evasive maneuvers!" Rocket yelled, taking over the controls. "Let's get out of here before they turn your brand-new ship into space dust!"
"Activate shields," Star-Lord instructed, before quickly changing his mind. "No, set initial defenses to low and scale up as needed. Let's conserve energy where we can."
"Getting shot at isn't my idea of fun," Rocket said, loading one of the stolen energy cells into the ship's weapon system. "Here, Quill—you fly. I'll rig these energy cells to give us a boost."
Star-Lord took over the controls while Rocket started tinkering with the cells. When he saw the pile of energy cells Rocket had managed to grab, he suddenly understood why the Sovereign were coming after them with such fury.
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