A metal tube buries itself into the ground right where Spider-Man was standing. If he didn't jump out of the way, he would have been squashed into the planet. The teenager's heart picks up the pace as he gets into fighting mode.

"Hey guys! Don't you think we should defeat this guy as fast as we can?" Spider-Man yells as he climbs the silver tube up to its owner. "Because he's literally eating the planet!"

"That's usually a good idea when beating up bad guys!" Quill rolls out of the way just in time to dodge an attack from Galactus. He turns on his rocket boots and flies up next to the other Peter. "How do we defeat him?!"

"We must be persistent, Quill. Attack him with as much strength as we can muster!" Drax slashes his twin swords horizontally, cutting a metal tube in half. Kraglin stands next to him, using the magic arrow to take out many tubes at once.

Gamora attacks the planet-eating mechanisms as well, but realizes that the more they destroy, the more tubes come to replace the broken ones. "We need to drive him away! Nebula and I will see if the citizens here have a contingency plan for evacuation."

"Blast!" Loki tries to attack, but gets knocked back by the silver metal. He holds his side and takes a deep breath as he stands up.

"Hey you, god of mischief!" Loki turns to the one who called his name and sees Rocket throw him a huge gun. Loki catches it, dropping his small daggers as a result. Rocket sees Loki charge up the gun and decides to explain more, "That red button will transform it into Melee Mode. Use it to access close up combat."

Without needing further instruction, Loki presses the button. The gun shifts around and transforms into some sort of club or bat to hit things with. Loki finds it's much easier to use than his daggers against something this big.

Spider-Man and Star Lord slowly but surely make their ways up to the top where Galactus' face is. The older Peter stays close to the younger one, determined to keep his promise to Tony. Groot climbs up with them as well, using his tree abilities to form branches and help him climb.

"We are almost at the top, Guardians. How's it going down there?" Quill uses the connecting earpieces to communicate with his fellow teammates.

"We are alright down here for now, but they are coming by the numbers! Galactus won't merely give up." Loki jumps on top of a tube, and uses his new height to destroy two incoming ones. "What is your plan?"

"Mr. Stark always said that the one who's higher up always has an advantage. If we can get to at least his level, we can see exactly what we are up against." Peter Parker explains, recalling the training session he had with Tony.

"Speaking of which..." As Peter Quill's voice trails off, the group of three reach the top of the climb. Now that they are getting a good look at Galactus, they can see all his features and tell he looks just like a giant human man with a fancy purple helmet on.

"Ah, I thought I smelled pests." Galactus smiles evilly, showing off pearly white teeth that could eat all three of them in one chomp. "Why do you interfere with Galactus?"

Not believing they are getting a chance to actually talk to him, Spider-Man lowers his mask. "W-we want to know why you are destroying planets!"

Galactus chuckles, glad that he strikes fear in the heart of the teenager. "I am cursed, small one, cursed by the infinite hunger. I strive to consume every inch of the galaxy, and only then will my hunger be truly satisfied."

"Why don't you just e-eat abandoned planets?!" Peter Parker tries to keep a steady voice, but struggles to do so. He knows, however, that these questions must be answered. They have to know about their enemy.

Galactus keeps his smile and shakes his head. "Those planets lack in...flavor and nutrients."

Peter shivers at the response, and Quill steps in front of him, aiming his gun at Galactus' forehead. "You better leave now or you'll wish you never came here!"

"I am Groot!" The talking plant yells and crosses his arms, trying to act confident and terrifying.

Instead of responding, the giant laughs and lifts his hand. He swipes at the three heroes and grabs them in his fist. With his other hand, Galactus picks out Spider-Man.

"This one is entertaining." Galactus keeps a secure hold on Peter, and the teenager can barely move. He tries to make his extra spider legs emerge from his back, but they don't find the room. Galactus squeezes his other hand tighter, making Quill and Groot gasp for any air they can find.

Suddenly, when all hope seems lost for the two suffocating Guardians, Galactus opens his hand. The giant yells in pain and shakes his injured hand that was holding the two friends. However, he keeps ahold of the younger Peter.

Quill turns on his rocket boots to stop his fall ad Groot manages to grab onto his back. Quill magnifies the lenses of his helmet and squints his eyes when he sees that there is someone on Galactus' helmet. They are the size of a human, definitely, and seem to have been the one to injure Galactus' hand.

The figure on the giant's helmet jumps. Peter Quill watches as they flawlessly run down the tubes and onto the floor of the planet. Quill follows them, even though Groot tells him to go back up and help Peter.

Quill lands next to the mystery person and makes his mask retreat across his face. He observes the person, and sees that they are human. It's a girl, in fact. She has long, straight brown hair with a bit of lighter brown eyes. Her clothes seem old and worn, but otherwise fit her nicely. In her hands she holds two boomerangs with bladed ends. One of the weapons is silver while the other shines gold.

"Who are you?" Quill asks. Just as he says that, Gamora and Nebula return to tell them that there is no contingency plan.

The newcomer looks at Gamora and Nebula, recognizing them as part of the Guardians. She looks back at Quill and replies, "Call me Leah. I'm here to kill Galactus."

Without another word, the girl named Leah turns around and throws her weapons at Galactus' planet eating machines. Around twenty of them are hit, and are cut in half. Leah's weapons come back to her and she catches them with ease. She is about to run forward and throw them again, but suddenly, the ground starts shaking violently.

"What's happening?!" Mantis yells as she struggles to keep her balance.

"Knowhere's core is unstable. This planet is crumbling to ash!" Nebula explains. "We need to get out of here. We can't stop this now!"

"Quill, these people aren't going anywhere. We need to escape and report back to base. Maybe the wizard has a way to save these people!" Gamora takes Quill's wrist and pulls him into the ship.

The rest of the Guardians and Loki follow, but the girl Leah stays put. "No, my time is now! I must have my revenge!"

Before she can sprint toward Galactus, Drax picks her up from around the torso and runs with her into the Benatar. "Revenge can wait for another day, trust me."

"Wait, Parker!" Quill puts on his mask again and goes to retrieve the teenager, but the ground shakes more violently and he realizes that he's too late. The ground crumbles away and Rocket takes the helm. He steers the ship away before it goes down with the rest of the planet.

Peter Parker watches from Galactus' grasp as the planet crumbles away. He doesn't see the Guardians' ship fly away, so he assumes the worst. Tears prickle his eyes as he realizes his friends are no more.

"Yes, the beauty of it. You must understand, child, that this is every world's fate. Come now, small one. I shall keep you as a trophy from the fallen Guardians." Galactus smiles in triumph and starts flying away with Peter still in his grip. Peter doesn't even try to escape, too sad and shocked that his team lost so easily. At least they gave Thanos an actual fight, but this Galactus guy seems completely unstoppable. Peter loses all hope as he is taken further away from his home.

"They called me Ricochet because of the nature of my boomerangs. I could throw them across the universe, and they'd always return." Leah starts her story at the others' request. "I was born on Earth, but raised on the planet Korbin. Galactus consumed my planet two days ago, along with everything I ever loved. Somehow, before I died, a man covered in silver saved me. He left me on the planet Xandar and never came back."

"A man in silver?" Mantis asks for clarification, and Leah nods.

"You guys think he could have been the one to send the warning to us?" Nebula fixes her robotic arm as she asks her question.

"There's no way to know for certain, but it's the best guess we got." Gamora hands her sister a screwdriver. "Quill, it'll be okay."

Peter hasn't moved from his spot since they left Knowhere. One of his hands rests on the glass of the back of the ship as he stares out the big window, and the other squeezes the handle of his gun as if it's his lifeline. There's no negotiation in his mind that it is his fault that Peter Parker is now possibly dead.

What will he tell Tony?

"I need to look for him. Please, Gammy, let me go look for him." Quill finally speaks and he turns around to look at Gamora.

The green alien shakes her head, knowing he was going to ask that. "We have to report back to base. We are already halfway to Earth."

However, Quill has set his mind. "I thought you'd say that. Tell Stark that I'm not coming home until I get Peter."

Faster than anyone could think, Quill attaches an orb to his chest. A thin, moldable spacesuit forms around him as he also puts on his mask. Gamora tries to grab his wrist, but Quill holds his gun toward the window and blasts it open. He flies out of it just before Rocket yells something and closes the window with the emergency button.

Gamora and Drax both run up to the glass and look around for any sign of Quill, but he is nowhere in sight. Loki chuckles from behind them. "And you all thought I was going to be the one to go rogue."

"What should I do now?! Should we find that idiot who blew a hole in his own ship?" Rocket turns around in his seat, looking for an answer.

Gamora thinks about it for a second before making up her mind reluctantly. "No, go back to Avengers Headquarters. We need to regroup."

"He won't last five minutes against Galactus, even if he does find him." Leah flashes back to when she witnessed the planet that she was raised on die right in front of her eyes.

"He will be fine. I doubt he'll find Galactus anyway." Gamora says, mostly to reassure herself. She turns around and whispers, "You better not die, Peter, either of you."