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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐊 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍

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Primrose would be the first to admit she never thought they would be on the Sovereign planet. It wasn't because of how the planet was, it was actually pretty nice when there wasn't a storm. But the people that lived there were a proud and extremely serious species. In other words, the exact opposite of the Guardians, who were known across the galaxy for their antics and lack of seriousness. The Quill woman never thought the Sovereign would actually ask them for help.

The brunette woman stood next to her brother as she stared at the device in her hands. The beeping could barely be heard over the thunderous storm that surrounded them. It wasn't long before the noises from the device started getting faster as the red line showed the creature they were about to face getting closer to their position. After Primrose scanned over the information in front of her one last time, she gently nudged Peter in his side before showing him the data on the screen.

"Showtime, a-holes," Peter announced with a smug smirk as he looked back up at the stormy sky, completely unaware of the eye roll he received from Primrose, "it will be here any minute."

"Which will be its loss," the Zehoberei woman announced while preparing the large blaster in her hands for the upcoming battle.

"I thought your thing was a sword?" the Quill man said, earning confused looks from both Gamora and Primrose.

"We've been hired to stop an interdimensional beast from feeding on those batteries, and I'm gonna stop it with a sword?" the raven-haired woman questioned without even attempting to hide the annoyance in her voice.

"It's just, swords were your thing and blasters were mine," Peter responded as he looked away from the Zehoberei woman and back up at the sky, "but I guess we're both doing blasters now. I just didn't know that."

"I use blasters, too, Pete," Primrose told her brother, causing him to look over at her before his smug smirk returned to his face.

"Yeah, but you're not very good with them," the Quill man stated, earning another elbow in the side that wasn't as gentle as the last.

"Drax, why aren't you wearing one of Rocket's aero-rigs?" Gamora questioned while Primrose kept her eyes glued to the screen in her hands and Peter kept his attention on the sky above them.

"It hurts," Drax muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear, making the Quill woman look up at her brother with a perplexed look on her face, only for him to shrug in response.

"It hurts?" the Zehoberei woman repeated with confusion in her voice before Primrose heard the Kylosian man sigh.

"I have sensitive nipples."

Drax's explanation caused Rocket to fall into a fit of laughter before he mocked the man by saying, "'my nipples hurt! Oh, goodness me!'"

"What about him? What's he doing?" the Kylosian man questioned without even attempting to hide the anger in his voice.

"I'm finishing this so we can listen to tunes while we work," the raccoon responded while gesturing toward the speakers and wire in front of him.

"And how is that a priority?" Primrose questioned as she looked away from the device in her hands to stare at the furry creature.

"Blame Quill! He's the one who loves music so much!" Rocket yelled as he pointed toward the redheaded man.

"No, I actually agree with Rosie on this. That's hardly important right now," the Quill man announced after looking away from the stormy sky and down at Rocket.

"Oh, okay. Sure, Quill," the raccoon said with a smug smirk before winking at Peter.

"No, seriously, I side with Rosie."

"No, I understand that," Rocket stated while continuing to wink at Peter as the smirk on his face slightly grew, "you're being very serious right now."

"You do realize I can see you winking, right?" Primrose asked the raccoon with a hint of boredom in her voice before she went back to studying the device in her hands.

"D*mn it. I'm using my left eye?" the raccoon muttered under his breath just loud enough for them to hear. It wasn't long after that when his attention was drawn to Groot, who was shouting and attacking a group of Orloni.

"I am Groot."

"They were not looking at you funny!" Rocket exclaimed just as the device in Primrose's hand began beeping faster than ever before.

Just as she was about to call out to her team and make them aware of the oncoming danger, a loud boom cut through the air. Everyone instantly turned their attention toward the source of the sound to see a rainbow light forming in the clouds. It wasn't long after that when the Abilisk appeared in the sky and began coming toward them. Primrose didn't hesitate to place the device in her backpack before copying everyone's actions and pulling out her blasters to prepare for battle.

As soon as the beast landed on the platform, Drax let out a loud scream and sprinted toward it. The rest of the Guardians weren't far behind and it wasn't long before they were all fighting the Abilisk to the sound of Peter's music. Primrose used her aero-rig to fly high above the beast while using her blasters to shoot its pink flesh. However, her and everyone else's hits proved to be useless as the Abilisk continued to roar and swing its tentacles through the air. The Quill woman barely managed to dodge one of the creature's tentacle attacks before flying out of the way of its opened mouth. Once she was in the clear, she went back to blasting its body as much as she could. Despite all she put into her attacks, nothing seemed to damage the Abilisk.

Instead of continuing to attack the beast, Primrose flew out of its range of attack and began studying the Abilisk as well as her team's attacks. It was obvious to her that her, Peter, and Rocket's blasters were useless against the creature. They barely even made a dent in the Abilisk's flesh. But she was surprised to see that Gamora's much larger and more powerful blaster was ineffective as well. She was even shocked that Drax's daggers didn't have any impact.

"You can join us at any time, Rosie!" Peter's voice rang through her communicator, causing Primrose to roll her eyes at her brother before she saw Drax get thrown across the platform and into their speakers.

The Quill woman instantly flew down and landed next to the Kylosian man before Gamora appeared at his other side. Both Primrose and Gamora fired at the Abilisk while Drax continued to stare at the creature with determination in his eyes.

"The beast's hide is too thick to be pierced from the outside," Drax announced, causing both women to turn their attention to him while he continued to glare at the Abilisk, "I must cut through it from the inside."

"No! That's not gonna work!" the Quill woman exclaimed as she watched the man next to her get a better grip on the daggers in his hands.

"No, no! Drax, wait a minute! Drax!" Gamora shouted, only for the Kylosian man to ignore her and sprint toward the creature.

Both women watched in horror as Drax ran across the platform as fast as he could. As soon as he was close enough to the creature, he jumped into the air before soaring into his mouth. Primrose's eyes widened in horror as she watched the Abilisk's mouth slam shut.

"What is he doing?!" Peter shouted after watching Drax disappear inside the beast.

"He said the skin is too thick to be pierced from the outside," Gamroa explained while Primrose kept her eyes glued to the beast before her brother landed next to the two women, "so he-"

"That doesn't make any sense!" the Quill man interrupted, earning annoyed looks from his sister and the Zehoberei woman.

"We tried telling him that!" Gamora responded to the redheaded man, who completely ignored her words as he continued to panic.

"Skin is the same level of thickness from the inside as from the outside!"

"We realize that!" Primrose shouted at her brother without even attempting to hide her annoyance.

"There is a cut on its neck," Peter announced while reloading his blaster before looking up at the raccoon flying above them, "Rocket, get it to look up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, both he and Primrose turned their aero-rigs back on before flying as high as they could in the sky. The Quill siblings along with Rocket continued to fire their blasters at the Abilisk while they waited for Gamora to issue the final blow. The hit from the Zehoberei woman was taking a lot longer than expected, resulting in Primrose's blaster starting to run low. As she flew back a bit to give her space to reload, one of the beast's tentacles wrapped around her body and began swinging her around in the air. Soon after that, her brother was met with the same fate.

Back on the platform, Gamora's blaster failed to get the job down. That caused her to toss the object aside before taking her sword out of its holster and transforming it to its full length. The Zehoberei woman just stared at the Abilisk for a moment longer before sprinting toward the beast. As soon as she was close enough, Gamora jumped into the air and lodged her sword into the creature's cut. Once her sword was secure, she let gravity do the rest of the work as she headed back down to the platform.

The Abilisk let out a painful groan as it writhed around and released its grip on the Quill siblings. Primrose felt almost guilty for the creature while she watched it squirm and collapse onto the platform. Right as the Quill woman landed next to her brother and Rocket, Drax appeared through the cut on the Abilisk. Everyone watched in disgust as she wiggled out from inside the creature before landing near his teammate's feet.

"Yes!" the Kylosian man exclaimed through his laughter while holding his daggers up in the air, "I have single-handedly vanquished the beast!"

Everyone just stared at Drax with annoyance in their eyes before Groot picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at the laughing man. The Kylosian man's joy instantly came to an end as he looked down at the small creature with a confused look on his face. Primrose simply rolled her eyes at the warrior's actions before she walked back to her stuff.

The Guardians stood around the batteries that were the prized possessions of the Sovereign. No one said a word as they took off their aero-rigs and put their gear back into their bags. Primrose then grabbed her jacket out of her pack and pulled it on over her tank top then took her hair tie out and let her hair hang freely. As soon as she was finished, the Quill woman slung her backpack over her shoulders before noticing Drax staring at the batteries with curiosity in his eyes.

"What are they called again?" the Kylosian man asked without taking his eyes off the glowing objects in front of him.

"Anulax batteries," Primrose told him while securing her favorite blaster on her belt.

"Harbulary batteries," Drax muttered under his breath, earning an annoyed sigh from the Quill woman while her brother stared at the Kylosian man with a blank look on his face.

"That's nothing like what she just said. But they're worth thousands of units apiece, which is why the Sovereign hired us to protect them," Peter stated after pulling his jacket over his shoulders and walking down the steps of the platform with everyone following behind him, "careful what you say around these folks. They're easily offended. The cost of transgression is death."

"Shouldn't I be the one telling you that?" Primrose said with a smirk, earning a playful glare from her brother before they continued walking toward the Sovereign palace.

When their destination finally came into view, Primrose could hardly believe her eyes. The building was made entirely out of gold and was a spherical shape. It was like nothing the Quill woman had ever seen before. A small smile formed on her face as she studied every inch of the exterior of the palace. The brunette woman followed her brother and the rest of the Guardians inside, which Primrose found even more impressive. As she continued to follow her teammates toward the Sovereign High Priestess, Primrose's eyes scanned over all the golden pillars that filled the interior of the building. Each was perfectly crafted while keeping its differences. The golden objects were highlighted by blue accents, which only made the gold stand out even more. Everything seemed to be glowing.

"We thank you, Guardians, for putting your lives on the line," Ayesha, the Sovereign High Priestess, said after the group of six stopped directly in front of her throne, "we could not risk the lives of our own Sovereign citizens. Every citizen is born exactly as designed by the community. Impeccable, both physically and mentally. We control the DNA of our progeny, germinating them in birthing pods."

"I guess I prefer to make people the old-fashioned way," Peter responded with a smirk, earning an eye roll from his sister while Gamora let out an irritated sigh.

"Well, perhaps someday, you could give me a history lesson in the archaic ways of our ancestors. For academic purposes," the Sovereign ruler told the Quill man while Primrose noticed a couple of her handmaidens smirk.

"I would be honored, yes. In the name of research. I think that could be pretty, uh..." the redheaded man trailed off after seeing the glare he was receiving from the Zehoberei woman. That was all it took for his smile fell as turned his attention back to Ayesha. "Pretty repulsive. I'm not into that kinda casual-"

"Oh, please," Primrose scoffed at her brother before Gamora took a few steps forward to address the Sovereign High Priestess.

"Your people promised something in exchange for our services," the raven-haired woman stated after coming to a stop at the last step that led to the throne, "bring it and we shall gladly be on our way."

Ayesha just stared at Gamora for what felt like an eternity before the former pointed toward something out of view of the Guardians. It wasn't long after that when they heard a door open before two guards escorting a prisoner appeared. Everyone watched as the three of them walked across the platform and forced their captive to their knees. The prisoner's hood was then removed to reveal a very angry-looking Nebula.

"Family reunion. Yay," Peter said in an attempt to break the tension, only to receive another eye roll from his sister.

"I understand she is your sister," Ayesha said as she watched the two women have a glaring contest.

"She's worth no more to me than the bounty due for her on Xandar," Gamora responded without taking her eyes off Nebula before the former grabbed her sister's arm and forced her to her feet.

"Our soldiers apprehended her attempting to steal the batteries," the Sovereign High Priestess told them as she stood up from her throne, making the crown come off her head in the process, "do with her what you please."

As soon as Ayesha finished speaking, Gamora forced Nebula to turn with her before the former pushed the prisoner toward the exit of the palace. After watching the two women walk past him, Peter turned his attention back toward Ayesha.

"We thank you, High Priestess Ayesha," the Quill man said with a bow before he, Primrose, and the rest of the Guardians began to follow Gamora, only for them to stop and face the Sovereign High Priestess once again when she began speaking.

"What is your heritage, Mr. Quill?"

Peter hesitated for a moment as she stared at Ayesha then glanced over at Primrose. The Quill woman sent her brother a simple shrug in response before both of them turned their attention back to the leader of the Sovereign.

"My mother is from Earth," the redheaded man responded while Ayesha continued to intently stare at him.

"And your father?"

"He ain't from Missouri. That's all I know."

"I see it within you. An unorthodox genealogy," the Sovereign High Priestess explained while Primrose and Peter listened to her speak with blank expressions on their faces, "a hybrid that seems particularly...reckless."

"You know, they told me you people were conceited d**cheb*gs, but that isn't true at all," Rocket said before looking over at the Quill siblings and sending them a wink. His words caused gasps to cut through the air while Peter and Primrose looked away from the raccoon and back at Ayesha with shocked expressions on their faces. Once Rocket realized what happened, he let out a small groan. "Oh, sh*t. I'm using my wrong eye again, aren't I? I'm sorry. That was meant to be behind your back."

Before their conversation could continue any further, Primrose and Peter turned and followed Gamora out of the building. As they left the palace with their lives intact, they were completely unaware of the danger Rocket was about to put them in.

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