Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

Adam's audio logs #003

I've been reading a lot about Earth in my spare time. Well, to be honest, you could say I've been reading a lot in general.

Mostly because people keep saying I'm dumb and that I could benefit from learning about more things. Though if you want to be accurate, technically speaking, I'm not dumb.

My mom had me tested just to be sure. And I apparently know more than your average intelligent life form does on all manner of advanced topics.

She concluded that my problem was that I'm just inexperienced.

"There's a difference between knowing and actually doing after all," she explained.

"You just need to get more practical life experience, and you'll be the great Warlock of our species as I made you to be."

For all her eye-rolling and exasperated scolding of me, she really did have high hopes for me.

I miss her...

But, I digress. Like I said, I've been reading a lot about Earth.

And on Earth, there's a concept pertaining to their business sector called the perpetual existence of a corporation.

It basically says a corporation will continue even if the founders, shareholders, and officers come and go.

This phenomenon isn't exclusive to Earth corporations, it seems.

OrgoCorp's founder may have been a morally reprehensible person, and OrgoCorp may have funded countless planetary-scale genocides over its years.

But at the end of the day, it is one of the largest corporations in the Andromeda Galaxy and easily the largest biotech manufacturer in the known universe.

They produced the med packs, cybernetics, and prosthetics used by most of the universe's space-faring races.

Not to mention the sheer number of jobs it created and lives it undeniably improved if not outright saved.

It's really no wonder why there are already High Evolutionary apologists trying to justify his actions.

They kept parroting the same talking points like
"most of his experiments had been conducted on unintelligent lower life forms" or "it was in the noble pursuit of scientific advancements."

Fortunately, though the apologists are few and far between. With most advanced races expressing their shock and horror at all this.

Something that, despite my young age, even I could tell was just an attempt at saving face if not full-on deception.

Realistically, the reveal that he was conducting such horrendous experiments shouldn't be too shocking for those at the top of the intergalactic pecking order. At best they could claim they didn't know just how bad his actions were. But on some level, they had to have noticed entire civilizations suddenly disappearing as quickly as they appeared in the first place. And decided to turn a blind eye due to all the benefits they were reaping from the High Evolutionary.

But to play devil's advocate here, the High Evolutionary did tend to conduct the bulk of his grotesque experiments in isolated regions of space and only really showed off his successes like we the Sovereign.

But were we really successes? Or just less obvious screw-ups?

He himself admitted we were nothing more than pretty dummies to him who he had no qualms with annihilating.

Sorry. I keep rambling and going off topic. It's just...I have a lot on my mind.

And I know these logs are supposed to be for official Guardians of the Galaxy debriefs, but it's nice to talk about these things out loud.

Might have to delete this entire log and start all over though.

But wait...if I delete you, just because I screwed up in making you, doesn't that make me no better than the Evolutionary?

Damn it, I'm being ridiculous and I'm rambling again, aren't I?

Sorry. I'm definitely going to at least have to heavily edit this when I'm done.

Too much non-essential information.

Okay, let's try this one more time. Where was I?

Ah yes, OrgoCorp's value.

OrgoCorp is a highly valuable company. Or it was.

I've talked a lot about how the larger universe now has mixed feelings about it, and that has led to a sizeable dip in the company's stock price.

Which was great for we the guardians, because it meant we were able to buy a controlling stake in the company at dirt-cheap rates compared to its original valuation.

I wonder whether that's a crime? Buying stocks in a company you essentially caused to tank in the first place.

I feel like that's a crime.

But no one's called us out yet, so maybe it isn't? Who knows, all that matters right now is that we are the proud owners of OrgoCorp.

It's a large corporation, so Rocket suggested that it needed full-time management by trusted individuals. And who better than the new guardians?

If we can get this place running like we want, we could help out in a way more effective manner than we ever did by going planet by planet good Samaritan-ing

But until this place is ready, Rocket and Groot will continue on with the usual guardians patrols and peacekeeping.

While the rest of us newbies go full corporate. (I hope I'm using that term right.)

So yeah, I'm the new acting CEO of OrgoCorp. Sounds insane, but I did say I wasn't dumb and to be fair I'm not doing it by myself.

I'm actually kind of optimistic about this, to be honest.

I mean what could go wrong?

Alright, I think that's enough. I have to go feed Blurp.

-Adam Out

Chapter Text

ADAM

"Are you sure about this?" Cosmo asked as I strapped on the harness, securing me to a menacing-looking piece of machinery.

"Yes," I said with as much confidence as I could muster, before said confidence quickly faded away, and I meekly admitted, "Actually, no, not really."

"Relax, I’ve run the numbers several times; you'll be fine," Phy-la Vell said as she tapped away quickly on a large control panel, humming a tune as she worked.

"Remind me again why we are doing this to the poor guy?" Kraglin asked, shooting me a sympathetic look.

Phyla let out an exaggerated exhale as she stopped whatever she was doing on the control panel. She tucked back her hair so they no longer got in her face and gave an exasperated look at Kraglin.

"Because we are broke. And desperately need power to run OrgoCorp. And fortunately for us, Adam here is pretty much just a living breathing version of those annulax batteries the Sovereign make, so we can skim some energy off of him for the time being," she explained, like this was the umpteenth time she had had to do so.

Which in fairness, it probably was. I had asked a ton of questions beforehand. And only begrudgingly agreed to this because we really did need power.

We had only been in charge of OrgoCorp for about a month, and things were far from great. Most of it wasn’t our fault, in our defense.

Shortly after news spread that the High Evolutionary had been taken down, any collaborator of his who wasn’t on the ship that got destroyed saw the obvious signs on the wall and fled. Not wanting to be put on trial for their role in multiple mass extinction events and any other horrific crimes they committed.

But before leaving, they had ransacked the OrgoScope, trying to cover their tracks by deleting incriminating files and also pilfering anything of value that they could use for themselves.

The level of thievery was admittedly quite impressive, especially with how quickly it was carried out. Entire sections of the OrgoScope had been quite literally picked bone dry. There was now only a large bone-like mass remaining in several areas of the facility.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, among the many things stolen was the OrgoScope central power generator, a literal heart-like contraption.

With it gone, the OrgoScope had been forced to run on a handful of mitochondria packs, most of which were almost depleted now after a full month of nonstop use.

This plus, the mass exodus of employees who understandably did not want to be associated in any way with the Evolutionary, whittled down the staff to a skeleton crew. Meaning OrgoCorp was forced to serve the same number of clients at only a quarter of its original capacity.

With all this, and many other hurdles, it’s no wonder the newly appointed OrgoCorp board of trustees was constantly on I and the rest of Guardians' back to solve the list of issues facing the company, whatever it takes.

And the first thing on that list is reestablishing stable power.

"Okay, I think everything is set," Phyla said after tapping some more on the control panel.

"Ready when you are," she said gleefully as she strapped on a pair of large ill-fitting blacked-out goggles.

Which combined with her way-too-eager grin made her look like a prepubescent mad scientist.

Kraglin and Cosmo, for their part, quickly backed away and took cover behind a sturdy-looking counter.

"All I have to do is just expel energy, right?" I asked.

"Yep."

"And this won’t hurt?"

"We’ve been over this already; if my calculations are right - which they are - the worst you should feel is a little lightheaded," she said, clearly getting impatient with my delay tactics.

"Okay, what about…”

"Just do it," she groaned out in frustration.

"Alright. Alright. I’m doing it," I conceded sheepishly. I began to allow the energy that I always felt simmering beneath my skin to pour out of me in the form of gold light.

Most of the energy enveloped me, but I could feel the harness tugging and pulling at some of it.

The machine I was hooked up to began to hum and whir, causing Phyla to exclaim, "Holy shit, it’s actually working."

Flabbergasted, I asked, "What do you mean 'It’s actually working'? I thought you said you ran some calculations and stuff."

Phyla waved her hands dismissively, "Ignore that and focus on maintaining a stable output."

Grumbling to myself, I refocused on releasing energy.

For the next few minutes, things remained uneventful to the point where I actually grew kind of bored. I could still feel part of my power being skimmed off. But it was kind of a soothing feeling, and the worst it did was make me drowsy.

"Huh, that’s strange," Phyla said aloud as she stared intently at some readings being projected by the control panel.

"What?" I asked, suddenly fully alert and nervous.

"The energy readings aren’t making sense. I calculated the precise amount of power needed to charge the entire OrgoScope for about a year, and it was working fine for a while, but now it’s stalling at 95% for some reason," she explained.

"So like, does he need to increase his output or something?" Kraglin questioned.

"Hmm... maybe," she said, deep in thought.

I shrugged and began to charge up more. "Still no change," Cosmo said as she herself looked at the readout.

"Give it more juice," she encouraged.

I complied, now starting to feel kind of lightheaded and drowsy from all the energy I was expelling.

"It’s working. It’s gone up to 96% now, increase your output further," Kraglin urged.

I grunted and did so. Now I was really feeling the exhaustion. My legs began to feel like putty, and my vision was beginning to swim and blur.

"I can’t do this much longer," I said weakly.

"You are almost there, bro. We are at 99%," Kraglin supplied.

Groaning, I decided to give it one last burst of power before I stopped this, regardless of whether it was fully done or not.

"Wait, stop, I think I know what’s going on," Phyla said. I didn’t need to

be told twice to stop and immediately ceased releasing energy.

As soon as I did, I bent over to rest my hands on my knees while I tried to catch my breath.

"My calculation was done using all the locations and sectors of the OrgoScope I saw on official schematics. But these energy readings only make sense if there’s another unlisted sector also connected to the main energy grid. A sector that requires huge amounts of power but the Evolutionary didn’t want anyone to know about officially," Phyla explained.

The room immediately fell silent as everyone processed this information.

"How is that possible? We searched this place from top to bottom when we first arrived," I asked, still slightly out of breath.

"I don’t know, but I think I can trace the energy to this hidden sector," Phyla said.

Frowning slightly, I stood up straight and began to unhook myself from the machine, saying, "Lead the way," I said.

We worked our way around the fleshy maze of halls and corridors within the OrgoScope for a good 15 minutes before arriving at an innocuous-looking wall.

"The energy is going somewhere in there," Phyla confirmed.

Cosmo walked forward, growling lowly before telekinetically prying back the fleshy mass to reveal a metallic vault door underneath.

"The hell," Kraglin exclaimed as he looked at the vault.

"That’s a Kree incursio bolt door. Super expensive and top of the line security vault. They say there’s only 50 in existence. If an unsuccessful attempt is made in opening the door, it detonates and takes out both its content and the thief trying to break in. I lost a buddy Ravager of mine to one of these things,"

"Can you crack it?" I asked. "Maybe," he replied, "But it would take weeks of delicate work and I can’t screw up once, else ka-blewy. I will also need a ton of specialized tools and a team of five other safe crackers to…”

Kraglin’s words were cut off by the screeching metal of the vault door crumpling in on itself under the might of Cosmo’s telekinesis.

"Or she can just do that, I guess," he said, sounding kind of annoyed.

"Good girl," I said to her before striding into the opening she had made.

Cosmo giggled in pleasure and flowed after me.

The moment my boot hit the ground, motion lights activated and brightened up the room.

The room was huge and filled with rows upon rows of large glass cylindrical tanks. Each tank was filled with green fluid with all manner of creatures floating in them.

"Wow, this place is much bigger than it should be. It must be some sort of quantum subspace that allows for much larger things on the inside than on the outside," Phyla said in awe.

We all walked around looking at everything in amazed silence. There were plaques beside each vat with the subject’s name and other important information inscribed on it.

I paused randomly in front of one and read out the inscription on it. "Subject Black Swan. Parent sample: Ebony Maw. Enhanced with Swan DNA."

I looked up at the naked pale woman in the vat. She was incredibly pale, with equally pale white long hair that floated around her in the liquid of the vat.

"Ebony Maw? I’ve heard of that creep. He was one of Thanos’ black order or children," Kraglin said.

"Subject Glah Ree. Parent sample: power stone irradiated cells of Ronan the Accuser. Enhanced further with Canine DNA," Phyla also read aloud, looking at another vat containing a blonde-haired man.

"Ronan the Accuser? That's the guy who nearly decimated Xandar, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was the first time the Guardians truly worked together. Too bad it was all for nothing cause Thanos ended up decimating the place a few years later looking for the power stone," Kraglin said.

“It’s the same for all the vats,” Phyla continued. “Some of the worst people in the universe mixed with some Terran animal.”

“What the heck was the Evolutionary up to?” Kraglin said horrified.

My eyes zeroed in on one particular vat sitting at the center of the room, and I slowly walked over to it.

It contained a striking-looking humanoid male, with a lean physique, purple skin, and vertical grooves on his chin.

“Subject Thane, enhanced with phoenix DNA. Parent sample… Thanos,”

I said aloud.

For some reason, I felt compelled to reach up and wipe the fog that had accumulated on the glass of Thane's vat. So I could get a better look at the person inside.

But the minute my finger touched the surface, a spark of energy flew from my fingertips and into the vat. Startled, I hastily stepped back. But it was too late.

That spark of energy was all it took to cause Thane to jolt awake and open his eyes.

His eyes were pure black with no whites.

It was kind of hard to tell, but I felt his gaze fall upon me. A shiver ran down my spine from the intensity of the look he was giving me.

If I ignored the obvious aggression the eyes were emitting, I would have been inclined to say they were quite beautiful in a strange way.

Before I could say or do anything, Phyla rushed over to me.

"What did you do?" She accused.

"Nothing, all I did was just touch the glass," I admitted.

"Dumbass, you were indirectly powering up all these vats a few minutes ago. Of course, all it would take to wake one of them up is an errant spark of power."

"Erm, guys... why's he glowing?"

Cosmo said nervously, drawing my attention back to Thane. And he was indeed beginning to glow an intimidating orange color.

"That can't be good," I said, just before an explosion ripped out from Thane, sending me and everyone else flying into the wall, and everything went dark.

Chapter Text

ADAM

I regained consciousness slowly, feeling sore and exhausted.

My first proper realization upon waking, was how every part of my body felt like crap.

From my eyelids, which felt like lead weights to the point where I could only muster up the strength to crack them open a little bit. To my toes which tingled with an electric like current.

It took me a while to properly focus beyond myself and actually survey my environment, but when I finally did, I quickly realized I was in one of the many OrgoScope Intensive Care Units.

I was currently dressed in a simple hospital gown and surrounded by monitors and a couple of nurses, who didn’t seem to notice I was awake yet. I tried to sit up, groaning in pain in the process, which finally alerted the alien nurses and droids that I was awake.

They quickly swarmed me asking me questions about how I felt whiles simultaneously jabbing and probing me.

It was all happening so fast and I was still too weak to properly protest, so I was very grateful for a familiar voice to pierce through the overlapping chatter coming from the nurses, to come to my rescue.

“Hey, hey, ease up on the kid a little, he just woke up” Rocket said as he hoped on to the feet of my bed and into my line of sight.

“Shoo, shoo, give us some space” he said as he rudely gestured for the nurses to leave. The nurses quickly complied, muttering as they went and soon we were the only once let in the room.

Rocket turned to look at me, his face which had been scrunched up in annoyance whiles talking to the nurses, relaxed into more soft and sympathetic look.

“Hey kid, how you doing?” he asked softly.

“I’ve been better” I admitted weakly.
“What happened?” I asked, noting to myself how scratchy and raw my voice sounded from lack of use.

“You don’t remember?” he asked.

“I mean I remember trying to charge the OrgoScope. But there was a secret lab with …” I trailed off not sure what to call those thing’s in the vats.

“Counters” Rocket supplied helpfully. “That’s what everyone’s calling them now”

“Everyone?” I asked confused.

“Yeah pretty much everyone in the galaxy knows about those guys now” he paused briefly before continuing.

“A lot’s happened whiles you were in a coma. And I do mean A Lot”

“Coma?” I said stunned by this information. I figured I had been only out for a couple hours tops.

“How long have I been out?”

“Two weeks.”

“That doesn’t seem too long”.

“Kid, things happen real fast these days. Two weeks might as well be two years.”

I frowned at this slowly lifting my hand to massage my temple, feeling a headache coming on.

Then a terrifying thought crossed my mind. “Wait, I wasn’t the only one caught in the explosion. And if I was knocked out for two weeks, I can’t imagine what happened to the others?” I said legitimate panic setting in as I voiced my concern.

“We are okay….thanks to you” a new voiced said from the doorway into to my room. It was Phyla alongside Kraglin, Cosmo and Groot. They quickly barged into the room and for a second time in less than an hour, I was once again swarmed by concerned individuals probing and questioning me.

Cosmo hopped onto my bed and began to excitedly lick my face whiles saying something unintelligible to me in Russian. Kraglin gave a solid smack to my back and congratulated me on not dying. Groot, who was now so big he barely fit into the room, settled on extending smaller branches so they encircled me gently as he muttered a series of ‘I am Groots’. I still didn’t know him well enough to understand their meanings but I could easily guess them to be positive.

Phyla hugged me and broke into snot filled tears, blubbering on about how this was her fault in a roundabout way, and that she was deeply sorry. Acting like the little girl I often forgot she actually was.

I felt overwhelmed once again but this time in a good way. It was great feeling such obvious concern and love being showered upon me.

“You saved our lives back in the labs, you know” Kraglin said having to speak louder to be heard over the chatter of the others.

“You stepped in the way, just in time to act us our meat shield from the bulk of the blast” he explained

“Which was dumb, considering you were already super weakened from expelling so much energy” Phyla said in between sniffles.

I honestly didn’t recall doing something like that, but I was glad I apparently did, personal well-being be damned.

“Okay, okay, you guy’s had you touching reunion, now give the boy some space before I kick you lot out like I did those nurses” Rocket said with his paws on his hips locking like a tiny exasperated dad scolding his overeager kids.

The other guardian’s reluctantly obeyed their captain, giving me some much needed space.

I could only smile and say “I’m just glad you guys are alright” as I gave everyone cursory glance to confirm this. They all did seem unharmed and well, with everyone except Groot and myself dressed in the blue guardian’s jumpsuit.

Suddenly an exaggerated clearing off the throat pulled our attention back to the door, where someone else stood slouching against it.

“Sorry to interrupt, this touching scene” the man said in an indifferent tone that didn’t match his words.
“But time is off the essence here” the new guy said.

He looked like a handsome pale skinned Terran (human) male with messy brown hair, brown eyes and an overgrown stubble.

He was dressed in a strange black,blue and gold attire, with a distinct chest plate featuring three large glowing dots linking together to form a sort of V shape. Tucked casually under his right arm was gold colored helmet with a distinct red star pattern on it’s visor.

“For Rimbor’s sake Dick, couldn’t you give us five solid minutes with the kid?” Rocket asked.

The guy, prickled and grumbled “The name’s Richard, or Rich if you are feeling lazy, I honestly don’t know where people get Dick from”.

“Might be because of your winning personality” Rocket shot back.

Richard simply rolled his eyes and stepped further into the room. “Whatever, like I already said, my name’s Richard. Richard Rider. I’m the current Nova Prime…”

“Yeah, due to a technicality” Rocket interjected.

Before, Richard could snipe back, I interrupted both by speaking “Nova Prime? Like leader of Xandar’s Nova Corps? I thought they and the entire planet got decimated by Thanos whiles he was searching for the power stone.”

Richard bristled at this and tension filled the room as I had obviously hit a sensitive topic.

Through gritted teeth Richard said “Yes, I am currently the last of the Nova Corp and only survivor of the decimation of Xandar, but that is of no real relevance here. What matter’s now is what I said before, time is of the essence here and we need your help”

Feeling bad for causing any unintended pain, I cautiously asked “What do you need me for so badly that it can’t wait? I just woke up from two week coma after all”

Rocket sighed and looked at me “I told you kid, things’ have been really popping off whiles you were out cold”

“Remember those guys we found floating in the High Evolutinary’s vats?” Kraglin asked.

I nodded my head in affirmative. “Well the same explosion that knocked you into a coma freed ‘em all” Kraglin said.

“About fifty enhanced clones of the galaxies most notorious and powerful beings woke up from stasis and were set lose. All under our watch” Phyla said whiles staring intently at the bed sheet clearly feeling responsible for this.

“We had to let the public know about their escape so they could alert us if they got spotted. But when people heard these guys were clones of guy’s like Thanos, instead of simply reporting their existence, some have been….lynching them ” Cosmo said quietly lowering her head to her paws in obvious distress.

“But they haven’t done anything!” I exclaimed in shock.

“Have they…?” I added upon second thought.

“They were all made to be biological replicas of extremely dangerous people. Basically weapons. But apart from that Thane guy nuking the lab –which in itself was probably a reflexive attack not a malicious one-, none of them have done anything too bad. Most of them seem scared and confused and clearly haven’t been out of their vats before. They’ve been implanted with basic knowledge, but they are still fairly naive, sort of like… ” Rocket trailed off.

But I finished for him “Me”

Silence once again descended upon the room as they allowed me to digest this information.

“Is that why you need me? Because I can understand their frame of mind and possibly track them?” I asked Richard.

“Not just that, but we believe you have deeper connections to all of them than just being similar. We understand it’s your own personal energy that was used to accidentally awaken them. You are basically their life giver/father. So we hypothesize that you could possibly track them through what remnants of your energy that flows through them. Like some kind of cosmic awareness for detecting Counters” Richard explained.

“Is that possible?” I asked Rocket and Phyla.

“In theory” Phyla answered. “And I’ve already made a device to help amplify your ability to detect them where ever they maybe in the galaxy, but we needed you to be conscious for it work properly” Rocket added.

The room fell silent once again as I mulled it over. The idea of a bunch of innocent beings out there in space being killed just because they had dangerous powers they never wanted or looked like actually dangerous people, was heartbreaking. I was disgusted by the idea of people just killing them, but I could understand the fear motivating people to act like this.The snap had truly traumatized people and many civilization were barely recovering from it. But after I helped find them what was next. Would Richard just put them back in vats forever?

As if sensing my indecision/internal monologue Richard said.

“Look all I, and the rest intergalactic council, want is to stop the mayhem. Already 10 of these counters have been killed. But in the process several hundred unaffiliated bystanders and mob attackers were also killed, when the Counters inevitably fought back.

There’s even rumors Thane is forming a new Black Order with some Counters to seek vengeance for his fellow Counter’s who have already been killed. This will obviously just escalate things and more people will die.”
I bowed my head at this, deep in thought upon hearing all of this.
“I really don’t get what’s there to think about. Legally speaking those Counter’s are property of OrgoCorp and by proxy your property. So you have to do something about this”

Richard said, causing me to wince and Rocket to hiss like an animal.

“Living thinking being’s aren’t property regardless of who made them. Adam, Phyla and I were created by the Evolutionary. Doesn’t make us property” Rocket sneered at Richard.

‘You know that’s not what I meant. I was just trying to emphasize how responsible you are to these Counter’s” Richard clarified.

Rocket looked like he was about to retort something spiteful but I cut him off “I’ll do it”.

“Not because they are OrgoCorp property or what have you. But because it’s the right thing to do”

Richard nodded seemingly pleased by this. “But on one condition, we the guardian’s will track them down. Not some hit squad or bounty hunters. I don’t want any ’accidental’ deaths in the course of recapturing the Counters” I added.

Richard frowned at this “Don’t you guys have better things to do, we only need Adam”

“Groot and I can handle our usual space patrol, the others can multitask between running OrgoCorp and helping with the search” Rocket interjected.

Richard clearly didn’t seem enthused by this and mulled it over quietly in his head.

“I can accept that. But I too have a condition. I have to come along in order to protect intergalactic interest ” Richard said.

Translation “I don’t trust you screw ups and I’m going to keep a personal eye on you all so you don’t go against our established agreement.

“Fine” Rocket said. “But we can’t be held responsible for you dying during the search. These are scared and dangerous individuals after all. I can trust my team to handle themselves, but I can’t guarantee the safety of some pencil pusher like you”

Richard smirked and said “I can handle myself just fine”. And to emphasize this, the whites of his eyes’ briefly turned black and his iris a bright purple.

“The hell?... that looked like power stone energy” Rocket said in surprise. “How are channeling it?”
Richard let his eye’s return back to normal and replied smugly “Wouldn’t you like to know. Anyway, as I keep saying. Time is wasting. If the kid’s up to it, give him the device and let’s get on with the search.”

Rocket still seemed like he wanted to interrogate Richard more about his powers, but he begrudgingly decided to shelf the issue for another time. Turning to Groot he said “Give the kid the device”.

Groot complied by opening up a section of his bark chest and pulling out a long gold colored metallic staff with a bird head carving on one of its end.

“The staff’s highly attuned to your specific energy so you only need to focus in order to detect things’ that possess similar energy” Rocket explained as Groot handed it over to me.

“I also baby proofed it by making it retractable and highly durable. So you wouldn’t accidental smack yourself with it or break it by dropping it” Rocket teased.

“Hearty, har, har” I said sarcastically at his joke only to prove the precautions were necessary by accidently smacking myself in the head in the middle of readjusting it, followed by dropping it loudly to ground due to the pain of my own self-inflicted hit.

“Shut up” I said before anyone could comment and quickly scooped up the rod (this time more carefully) and focused my powers.

I immediately got a sense of all energy similar to my own around the galaxy. It was an extremely surreal and overwhelming experience, but I decided to ignore the excess sensation and focus on the one energy I felt inexplicable drawn to.

I soon experienced an intense zooming sensation like my soul itself was racing to get a better look at this particular source of energy.

“I think it’s working “I say aloud with my eyes still closed and my mind deeply engrossed with the vision.

“Well, kid don’t leave us in suspense. What do you see?”

“Something bad…really bad”

Chapter Text

THANE

"Stop frowning, you look like a pissed off grape" Black Swan whispered to me from her seat located on my right hand side.

Her words only served to make my pre-existing frown deepen, and I petulantly replied saying "I wasn't frowning".

Black Swan scoffed and turned to face me properly , brushing aside her long white hair, so she could fix her large all black eyes on me properly.

"Well you are definitely frowning now" she retorted.

"I'm only frowning now, because you falsely accused me of frowning initially" I said, also turning slightly so I could glare at her.

"Both of you, stop bickering you'll draw unnecessary attention on us " Glah Ree cut in. Ironically speaking louder than both of us and just below the threshold for yelling.

As if to prove his point, a pink skinned alien woman seated in front of us turned back slightly to check out who was talking.

Quickly Glah Ree, Black Swan and myself, pulled down our respective hoods and tried to look as inconspicuous and innocent as possible.

It took awhile, but the woman finally turned away from our general direction. Looking back to face her front where the altar was located. She, alongside the several hundred alien worshippers seated in gold colored pews, quickly became absorbed by the words of the female alien preacher upfront.

We waited for a few more seconds to make sure we were no longer drawing attention to the back row before we finally relaxed and let our guards down.

I shot Black Swan a dirty look for nearly blowing our cover before trying to refocus on the sermon.

But my eyes kept drifting to my surroundings with my thoughts following shortly after. How did we get here?

It feels like this was the first time I had, had time to stop and ask myself this question.

So much had happened since we escaped from OrgoCorp. Most of it done on pure adrenaline and instinct. With no true plan aside from staying alive.
Even forming a group was just instinctual. The basic idea being strength in numbers. But we barely knew each other. Heck we barely knew anything. Everything we did know was implanted into us in the vats. All we knew for certain was that we couldn't keep reacting. We needed to start making our own moves. We had learnt this lesson the hard way...

So this was our first true preemptive plan. And it started with this small church.

Which for a small church, their place of worship was quite opulent.

All five hundred of us, were currently being comfortably housed in a large cathedral like building. The building's walls extended way up, giving the already large place a feeling of extra grandeur. The general color scheme used for decorating the place seemed to be exclusively red, gold and beige. Beige walls. Long red drapes. Gold ornaments, pews and torch bearers etc

The only other color present was from the large multi colored stain glass window located at the front of the church just above the altar.

The stain glass depicted a featureless gold colored humanoid striking down another featureless purple colored humanoid.

Despite the lack of features I got the distinct impression judging by the theatrical poses of the mural, that the gold figure striking down the purple figure, this was depicting a bad thing.

"Thanos was a great man..." the preacher on the altar said.

At the mention of my predecessor (father if you will) I finally began to refocus on the sermon.

"He was doing the difficult but necessary things" continued the preacher, a blue skinned humanoid alien dressed in flowing purple robes

"But then those heretics lead by the glowing kree woman slayed him in cold blood. Not just once but twice" the female preacher said somberly, causing the congregation to erupt into angry murmurs, head shakes and cursing.

From our seats at the back, Glah Ree and Black Swan discreetly shot me a quick look. As if confirming that I was indeed still alive and not like my progenitor and dead twice over. I ignored their stares and remained focus on the preacher. Now fully engrossed .

I have only truly been alive for two weeks. And in that time I've been hunted nonstop at worse and pelted with insults at best simply because of my heritage.

So many random aliens who didn't know me, took one look at me and declared me as evil as my "father" . And saying how ,just because I was related to him, I deserved to die for his sins.

So it was very refreshing to hear someone say something positive about him and by proxy me.

This why we had sought out this place. The universal church of truth. A cult who praised mass murders like Thanos, Ronan, the High Evolutionary etc. If anyone would grant us sanctuary, it would be them.

Officially though they claimed they weren't a religion or cult. Instead they were just free thinkers willing to speak the uncomfortable truths. Hence the name.
They believed the universe was overpopulated and needed to be cleansed of the weak so the strong could prosper.

However most people saw them us selfish lunatics who just wanted things to return back to the time of the snap. Because back then they not only survived the snap but thrived during those five years.

In short they were one of few people in the universe who didn't hate Thanos and other's like him, but instead praised his works

I leaned forward slightly so I could hear what the preacher said next.

"But things have changed..." silence befell the congregation as she began to speak again.

"That brave man...nay the prophet sent by Mistress Death herself, the High Evolutionary, brought back a version of our Thanos. This newer version will finish what his father started. He will cull the weak so the strong can survive. He will succeed where his predecessor failed. Isn't that right?"

The woman said as she stared pointedly at me.
Stunned, I could only sit there in frozen silence as all the worshippers turned simultaneously to stare at the back. Where Glah Ree, Black Swan and myself discreetly sat.

I might have still been in shock from being found out, but the others weren't.

"They're on to us" Black Swan barked as she shot up from her seat and threw off her cloak to reveal herself.

She was dressed rather revealingly in just a black bra-like top and black skin tight pants. So that most of pale fit body was on full display.

She adopted a defensive stance stretching out her arms and gestured at two empty pews on each side of us.

Immediately these pews lifted up, compelled to do so by the power of Black Swan's telekinesis. An ability inherited from her progenitor, the Ebony Maw.

Glah Ree also followed Swan's example, standing up, ripping off his disguise and revealing himself completely.

He wore a green and black standard Kree soldier garb. One he had stolen from one of our many attackers. He activated the attires in built helmet, so that a helmet with mohawk like adorn manifested to cover his upper face leaving his mouth free.

He also settled into a combative stance, drawing his fists up to his face and igniting them with crackling purple power stone energy.

"Please children, we mean you no harm" the woman said calmly as she slowly descended down from the altar and made her way towards us.

"How did you know who we were here?" Black Swan demanded angrily.

The preacher simply smiled softly at us. Holding her arms up slightly to show she was unharmed as she continued to walk towards the back of the cathedral and towards us.

"With all due respect, you lot are some of the most wanted people in the universe right now. Wearing a measly cloak isn't much of a disguise. Besides ...we are keenly aware of your Sire's who you all bear strong resemblances to"

She explained as she drew closer and closer, soon reaching just a few meters away from us.

"That's far enough" Glah Ree warned, his fist glowing even more to emphasizes his point.

The woman quietly complied and stopped about 20 meters from us. Up close I realized how tall this woman was being almost 10 feet tall, making her tower over us even from this distance.

She was also incredibly thin and completely bald. With her smooth gleaming blue dome head proudly on display.

"I understand you are scared... Some of your brethren have already been lynched. But I assure you. We mean you no harm. In fact we want to help you fulfill your full potential."

"Potential?" I asked as I too slowly got up from my seat and removed my hood.

There was small wave of gasps through the congregation as my face came into view. I flinched slightly at this reaction remembering what normally followed when others recognized me. Stones, bottles or worse...

I wasn't an exact replica of my father. I had close cropped black hair styled into a widows peak at the front.
With sharp tapered elf like ears and a more angular face.
I was also much leaner than Thanos muscle mass wise having more of a swimmers build. And I wasn't too tall being around 6"2 or so.

But I was still the same shade of purple as he. And I still had the vertical groves across my chin similar to him.

The preacher lady looked at me for awhile, as if taking me in before she finally spoke.

"Yes your potential. Just as your father once did for me. I too will bring out your full potential." She explained.

"Your knew my father?... personally I mean" I asked in surprise.

"Indeed, I knew all your parents personally" she said indicating to Black Swan and Glah Ree as well

"For I was one of Thanos' children. Like many others, I too was one of the lucky tributes offered to him by planets he culled. But unlike the black order, I could not rise to ranks of generals due to my lack of combat gifts. But I was still a useful and loyal servant. And during my time I got to meet all your esteemed parents."

This caused Glah and Swan to easy up significantly even going as far as to power down.

"How are you still alive? I thought Thanos' entire army was snapped out of existence?"

Glah Ree asked suspiciously.

"Yes his entire army was wiped out. But as I said already, I am not fighter. Ironic considering my name is Supergiant. Instead I served Thanos as a diplomat. Acquiring armies and weapons. Forging alliances. Politicking mostly... As such, I technically didn't really constitute a member of his army."

She explained calmly. I frowned at this, still somewhat skeptical but also willing to admit it did sound plausible.

She paused again to allow us to digest all this before speaking once more.

"I understand all this must be overwhelming. And you might think this might be just be an elaborate trick. But you came here in search for refuge, and I can offer you that .. and protection"

She said this as she gestured to the four hundred or so worshippers who had been silently watching all this while.

I couldn't help but chuckle sarcastically at this.

"Lady...the entire galaxy is out to get us. Five hundred cultists aren't going to stop them."

Supergiant smiled at this. "They are not cultists. They are free thinkers. And this isn't our full number. These are just the ones located on this planet. We have thousands more located on other planets. And we could possibly convert millions more to join our just cause. All we need is a symbol to rally behind. And that could be you Thane. In exchange we will act as your protectors and even help you find the other Counters. This goes beyond just your continued existence. This could be the beginning of something great. All you have to do is say yes".

For a long while nothing was said, until it became obvious that she was waiting for an answer.

I mulled it over in my heard before finally saying "Okay."

The cultists immediately broke into cheers and clapping upon hearing this. Supergiant quickly crossed the remaining distance to envelope me in a crushing hug.

For a woman who kept emphasizing she had no physical gifts, she was astonishingly strong hugger.

"You won't regret this" she whispered in my ear. And I instinctively knew I eventually would.

But for now my mind was preoccupied with possibilities, schemes and machinations.

I had no real interest in culling life in the galaxy or whatever these people wanted. The people in the galaxy sucked and deserved every painful thing that could befall them. But I didn't wish to be the one to inflict said pain

Ultimately all I cared about was getting any form of protection for myself and my fellow Counters.

And if that meant becoming the figure head/rallying point of a cult. So be it.

Supergiant finally let me out of her death grip hug and turned back to the crowd.

"All hail the great Magus. He who will succeed where Thanos failed" Supergiant yelled to crowd.

"Magus!!! Magus!!!" The crowd chanted. Growing louder and more fanatical with each declaration. Some people started crying. Other's started singing. In general it was very unnerving.

"What have you gotten us into?" Black Swan whispered uneasily to me, as I and my fellow Counters watched the cheering crowd of zealots.

"I don't know" I admitted.

Chapter Text

ADAM

If it wasn’t such a hideously blatant act of extortion I would almost have to admire the gall of it.

“20,000 credits?” I practically shouted.

“That’s right” the portly alien male replied, sounding resolute and almost smug.

“Just for a parking space?” I demanded further.

“Not just parking space. We guarantee the safety of the spacecrafts in our care” he replied, now sounding decidedly smug.

“But guaranteeing the safety of spacecrafts in your care, is the whole point of paid parking space.” I said exasperated.

The humanoid pig-like alien gave a loud snort of derision before saying “Look pretty boy, I don’t know what you want from me. If you want parking space with guaranteed security, you gotta pay 20k credits. Thems’ the rules here on Sakaar.”

For all it's faults I highly doubt there was any such rules that condoned obvious price gouging here on Sakaar. But it's not like I could complain to anyone in authority for help, because Sakaar currently had no authority figure.

When the Grandmaster was over thrown, so too did whatever passed as a governing force for the planet.
Thus bandits and would-be-despots, scrambled to fill the power vacuum. But most just ended up in drawn out fights with each other unable to make headway.

It didn't help that time flowed so differently on Sakaar, that for them it had been close to twenty year's since the Grandmaster's fall but to the rest of the universe it had barely been a few years.

So by the time the intergalactic community got wind of how bad things were here, it had been going on for quite sometime and eventually, most space governments blacklisted and essentially left it to it's own devices.

The lawlessness and seclusion was something, which a few Counters were likely trying to exploit hence why I and the other Guardians where here to check it out

But it was the same lawlessness that necessitated we land our new ship "The Queen", somewhere safe till we found the hiding Counters. Which brings us back to my current predicament of being practically robbed in broad daylight.

I opened my mouth to say something but Kraglin decided then, to intervene on my behalf.

“And this 20k price has nothing to do with the fact that my friend here is a Sovereign so you think he’s rich?” Kraglin asked with knowing look.

The Alien scoffed and said in an exaggerated voice of outrage “How dare ya?, I’m an honest business man I don’t discriminate against nobody.“

I rolled my eyes at the obvious lie, but Kraglin chuckled good naturedly at this.

“Adam you go on ahead, I’ll deal with this ‘honest business man” Kraglin said with devious smile on his face.

I hesitated for a moment looking between Kraglin and the Swindler before deciding to just do as he said and left him to handle the guy. I'm sure his past as a Ravager made him better suited for things like this anyway.

"Come on Blurp let's regroup with the others" I said looking down at the cute furry F'saki who had been obediently standing by my feet this whole time.

Blurp, gave an excited yip and followed me as I left the stuffy office. I soon found the others loosely hanging around, waiting for us.

"What took you so long?" Phyla asked as soon as got close enough.

I explained the situation and she shook her head in disbelief.

"Whatever, let's leave Kraglin to haggle while the rest of us try and find those Counters you said you detected on this planet" Nova ordered and without waiting for us, began to walk off.

"Bossy much" Phylla muttered under her breath just loud enough for me to catch.

And I could only silently agree with her. Ever since, Nova had joined as our government liaison, he had taken it upon himself to act us our defacto leader.

Too bad he sucked at actually leading us and instead tended to do everything himself with the expectation that we would all follow his lead.

At first I tried to make it clear that I was the official team leader here not him. But the long three hundred million light-year trip from OrgoCorp to here had made me realize sometimes, it's best to just roll over and comply with someone as stubborn as Richard.

Plus, he was admittedly highly competent though incredibly abrasive. But his bad attitude didn't matter right now, because the vision I saw last time demanded we all work fast.

In just three weeks, many of the thirty or so remaining Counters were already on the verge of leaving the Andromeda Galaxy. And once they did, they would be out of my range to detect and could easily disappear into vastness of the universe.

That is if they aren't killed by the many dedicated bounty hunters and mobs out for their heads.

So, yeah, we needed to work together and fast to solve this issue. And if that meant, sucking up with Nova's bad attitude so be it.

I quickly crouched down to scoop Blurp into my arms so we could move faster and together with the rest of Guardians followed after Nova.

We quickly moved through Sakaar city, a place I had never been too before but had clearly seen better days. Several buildings were riddled with blaster holes or were outright collapsed. Debris was still everywhere. And in general the place gave off major "recently at war" vibes.

But there was still a surprising amount of Native Sakaaran's and other aliens milling about going about their business looking fine and dandy.

So much so, I could easily see how the Counters thought they could come here to get lost in the crowds.

As we continued to navigate our way through the city, heading some place only Nova knew, I suddenly felt an intense shiver rundown my spine.

I still wasn't used to it but it was the intuitive feeling I got whenever someone with similar energy to mine was nearby.

They had to be relatively close by since I wasn't currently wielding the energy detection staff that Rocket gave me and amped up my ability.

I immediately stopped in my tracks and prompted the others to do same.

"I think I can sense a Counter" I informed them, as I frantically looked around at the crowds of people rushing along.

"Where?" Nova demanded. I didn't answer immediately as I instead tried to concentrate.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus, my ability to detect them. It was far from a perfect ability and it certainly wasn't specific, but I could get a rough idea of where they likely were just just on vibes alone.

I reopened my eyes when I did finally get a vibe and I pointed to a large Coliseum structure not too far away.

"Somewhere around there" I said pointing to it.

Richard pursed his lips in a frown and quietly contemplated something.

He said aloud "That's the Coliseum where the Grandmaster held his gladiatorial matches. It's huge and still in use for fights. This time by 'voluntary' fighters"

I noted the way he said voluntary, probably meant they weren't actually voluntary.

"It will be a nightmare to search everyone in the stands one by one. But we can make it easier to do if we split" I suggested.

Nova nodded his head in agreement, and signaled for us to fan out and begin the search.

We all had holographic visages of every Counter so the others didn't need me to point them out manually.

We each left on our own and began the search. I made my way through one of the many entrances to the arena and into the crowded stands.

The place was loud and absolutely packed with spectators but the fight itself didn't seem to have started yet. I ignored the ruckus and tried my best to discretely scan the spectators.

I was so engrossed in my work I barely noticed the announcer beginning to talk. But one of his last set of words halfway through introduction finally caught my attention.

".... A newbie to this arena, but someone I'm sure all of us have heard a lot about and will give us a fight to remember. Introducing the progeny of the Mad Titan himself....Thane".

Startled I turned back to stare down at the arena and sure enough appearing from under one of doors was Thane.

The auditorium fell silent. All were stunned for a second before bursting into boos and insults.

I winced upon hearing the vitriolic comments being thrown at him. And I tried to rack my brain as to what Thane was thinking by coming here to do this?

"From the communicator in my ear I heard Phylla comment "Whelp, at least now we don't have to search for him"

But before anybody could say anything else, the announcer continued.

"And his opponent. Weigh-in at 320 pounds of pure muscle and with a personal axe to grind. The one. The only. Drax the Destroyer"

Stunned I could only watch as who else but Drax himself step into the arena."

"I could not personally kill your father. So you will have to do" he said to Thane as he walked into arena.

Oh no. This isn't good. This isn't good at all.

Chapter Text

THANE

I haven't been in a lot fights, so maybe my frame of reference here might be a bit skewed. But this has to be by far the biggest ass whopping I have (and likely ever will) receive in my entire life.

Now, to be fair my entire life so far only amounted to about three weeks, but my lack of experience didn't make me ignorant. Drax was really earning his title as "destroyer" as he relentlessly wailed on me. So much so I was seriously questioning the life choices that I had made, which led up to this exact moment.

Admittedly at the time this plan was cooked up, doing this made sense. After all, four more Counters had been killed during the week that had passed since my group formed an uneasy alliance with the Universal Church of Truth.

And this had made it become quite obvious to me and everyone else, that the mobs and bounty hunters were becoming more brazen and savage with their attacks upon my fellow Counters.

But all that most of those in power did, when they heard about such atrocities was to issue tepid statements of condemnations. Basically performing the political equivalent of a disappointed finger wagging. Other space governments like the Kree, did even less and outright ignored the whole situation like it wasn't happening.

So if we wanted to stop this madness we needed to do something ourselves.

That's when SuperGiant suggested something. The constant reports of Counter's being defeated and killed was likely emboldening our enemies. So we need to publicize a Counter victory over a powerful foe instead. Our hope being that this would at least give our enemies pause before going after another Counter.
We quickly concluded that this fight needed to involve a universally renowned powerhouse but someone we could reasonably defeat.

We had thought Drax fit our needs perfectly. So SuperGiant sent him.a message goading him into coming to Sakaar so we could have a very public bout. But in all our scheming and machinations we had made one serious oversight. Drax was no push over. I had thought with my titan physiology inherited from my father and my pyro kinetic abilities, I held all the edge in this fight. But Drax was more skilled, more tenacious and what ever message SuperGiant had sent to him in order to lure him here, made him also more motivated than me it seems. Overall we had severely underrated Drax here, thinking at best this fight would only provide a tough but ultimately winnable fight.

And for our hubris I was paying a painful physical price.

So in between the brutal punches and kicks, Drax was launching at me with astonishing speed (especially considering his deceptively rotund midriff). I was simultaneously cursing SuperGiant under my breath for talking me into doing this in the first place. As well as trying futilely to block his attacks because that was all I could do with the way Drax forced me to the back foot.

I couldn't even hope for the others to step in and help, because I had come here alone and there was also a dome around the arena, to prevent errant attacks from the fights within from hitting spectators. But currently all it was doing was trapping me inside with my would be killer.

Right now, my only hope was for some sort of lull or brief reprieve from the constant onslaught of hits. So that I could use the time to build up enough thermal energy and fire a massive heatblast to end this fight once and for all. Not enough to kill him, but just enough rough him up a bit and make him an example. But at the rate things were going it would take a miracle for Drax to stop.

Fortunately for me it seems my association with the Universal Church of Truth, might have increased my Karma or something because a miracle soon happened.

From the corner of my eyes I noticed a large commotion going on in the spectator stands. The commotion grew so intense that even Drax stopped his attack on me and looked over to see what was going on.

In the middle section of one of the stands, ominous purple gas was spreading outwards through the crowds, causing spectators to begin to panic and scramble away.

More purple gas began to flow from seemingly out of nowhere from different sections of the coliseum, causing even more panic and confusion.

I could only watch in confusion as aliens caught in the gas began to collapse and fall into coughing fits. Shortly after this they stopped moving entirely. Likely dead. As soon as others realized that the gas was poisonous panic really set in. The overcrowded stadium practically shook as people scrambled to try and get out of here. Causing a stampede in the process.

Drax looked around in horror for a few seconds before turning to me and leering at me.

"You...what are doing?" He roared as he quickly grabbed me by the neck and began to choke me painfully.

I gagged and spluttered unable to speak as he easily lifted me off my feet causing my legs to dangle and flail around in the air helplessly.

"You monster. You are just like your father. I had no intention of interacting with you, even when I found out you existed. I had put aside my destroyer ways and dedicated myself as a father. But then you sent a message threatening my new family on Know where if I didn't come here. And now you do this " Drax snarled as he continued to apply pressure around my throat.

I tried desperately to say I had nothing to do with threatening his family or the current chaos around us. And that this was likely all the doing of the Church and Supergiant. But I couldn't say anything whiles he held me like this.

In fact not only was I unable to talk I was slowly losing consciousness if not outright dying whiles in his clutches. I tried fruitless to break free from his grip even going as far as to ignite myself in flames and by proxy Drax's hand. But Drax powered through the scorching heat and if this was to be a battle of attrition I could already tell I would lose. Already my vision had began to blur and fill with dark spots.

As I grew weaker so to did my orange flames, which began to die out and weaken. It truly looked like I was on the verge of death. And the last thing I would ever see was the pure hatred filled face of Drax as he squeezed the life out of me. Alongside the chaos unfolding in the stands, as what looked like a terran dog wearing a space suit, a nova corpsman and others, desperately tried to evacuate the coliseum.

Just as my eyes fell shut I felt I rush of new energy from out of nowhere. I felt energized and more powerful than I have ever been before but also cold and sickened at the same time.

Without really thinking I released I massive blast of flames outwards which sent Drax flying back.

I landed on my feet and sucked in some much needed oxygen. All the while wondering where the rush of energy had spontaneously come from. I looked down at my hands in confusion. Only for said confusion to intensify as the trace amounts of orange flames that I had used to blast of Drax, began to turn a sinister black in color.

My field vision also began to flicker back and forth between a normal colored one to a cerebral world of primary colors. Eventually my vision settled into a world of swirling colors and I looked around in panic only to make a chilling discovery.

For some reason, now all inanimate objects were now a dull gray colored and smoky in my eyes. Aliens who were still alive were brightly colored shades of orange and fiery flames. And the now multiple collapsed aliens were a mute black flame color.

As I watched, these black flames flew out from bodies of trampled or dying spectators and towards me. As soon as the black flames let the bodies, their color became a dull gray like those of the inanimate objects.

As these black flames floated over to me, no one else reacted to them, implying it was invisible to everyone but me. And when these flames reached me, they added to my own flames causing my own inky black flames to grow and roar like a stoked flame.

I wasn't too sure what was going on here. But I had a rough idea. Somehow, likely due to my phoenix genetics, I was siphoning the dying embers of people's life forces and adding it to my own. And this macabre act was enriching me tenfold.

I was immediately disgusted by this realization and desperately tried to stop doing so, but I had no idea how to consciously do so. I tried to concentrate on stopping but all this did was make me aware of someone.

How I missed them initially was a wonder, because their life force was so bright and vibrant it was like a miniature star in a world of dull grays, and weaker torch flames.

I felt drawn to whoever the source of this power was. Like it was familiar somehow.
Then I realized I did recognize the energy, it from off that guy who accidentally empowered and awoke all us Counters. He's a guardian of galaxy and current CEO of OrgoCorp.

What was his name again....

"Adam, help me blow some more exit routes for people to escape through" I heard the nova corpsman yell to the guy I was obsessing over.

Right. That's his name. Adam. Adam Warlock.

The Nova Corpsman and Adam began to work together to blow large openings out of the coliseum. I numbly noted how the corpsman's purple energy was reminiscent to my companion, Glah Ree's own power stone purple beams.

I was starting to get overwhelmed So much was happening and things had long gotten out of hand. I needed to take sometime to process my new ability, deal with this genocide by the church etc.

To do that I needed to get out of here. I briefly cast my eyes over to Drax, who was still down after my initial blast.

His body was severely bruised and charred, but at least he was alive.

I winced and turned away from him. I managed to switch my vision back to normal and I manifested some flames into my palms. The flames were still black but for now I ignored what that likely meant for and focused on escape. I easily blasted a hole through the energy dome surrounding the arena with my new enhanced black flames.

Next I jumped up into the air. I only meant to use my supernatural strength to leap high up and onto the stands. But to my surprise, I subconsciously began to fly like a meteor as I sailed through the air propelled by the black flames that engulfed my figure.
I can now add flight to my new abilities I guess.

As I shot out of the hole I made, I heard a ear splitting childish screech back in the arena. So I briefly paused mid air to see what happened.

A little girl with white hair and a blue jumpsuit had made her way into arena and now sat knelt over the crumpled form of Drax. She was crying hysterically as she looked over him. I vaguely recalled the emblem on her jump suit as the logo for guardians of the Galaxy, implying she was one of them.

I knew Drax was still alive (if only barely) but I'm sure she probably thought he was dead.

"Daddy" she wailed miserably as she cradled Drax and I felt my gut sink at the sight.

She briefly looked up and over at my still hovering form. Through tear stained cheeks she sent me a murderous glare. I wanted to shout down at her and tell her, he wasn't dead just near dead.
But I realized the distinction probably wouldn't change her rightful hatred of me in that moment.

So I did all I could do, I mouthed 'I'm sorry' and turned away from her, to fly off once more.

As flew up and out of the coliseum, and away to safety. I caught one last glimpse of that Adam guy with the boundless life force.

He too was also shooting me a look. So for a moment our eyes locked. His gaze wasn't filled with hatred like the girl from before but one of sincere sadness and disappointment.

Like he couldn't believe I had done all this.

And somehow that hurt more than all the hateful glares I had ever received in my short three weeks of living.

This was disaster, was all I could think to myself as I begrudgingly flew away and back to the church of truth.

Chapter Text

ADAM

My lawyer leaned across and said through the hovering donut shaped disc acting as my microphone

"Counsel, if you just want to go fishing, may I suggest the sea's of M'rek? Maybe then you'll find creatures gullible enough to fall for such obvious bait".

The counsel in question, an Echomelian male named
Frogurt, who possessed the standard green scaly skin and large chameleon-like head of his people, only pursed his dry flaky lips into a smirk. Thoroughly unfazed by the sarcastic remark from my lawyer. Frogurt nonchalantly smoothed down his already immaculate suit and then asked in a sickeningly sweet tone "Now whatever could you possibly mean?"

My lawyer, Murd Blurdock, also an Echomelian but with the distinct trait among his people of being able to stare directly at one thing with both his small ever shifting chameleon-like eyes, managed to roll his eyes at the obvious lie.

"You know perfectly well what I mean" he snapped.

"No, I really don't. So far I've been acting well within the scope of my job. I've been tasked with representing the relatives of the five hundred lives lost during the terror attack at Sakaar Stadium. We are seeking 250 million credit for the failure of the Guardians of the Galaxy in preventing the attack. To do that we need access to the records of OrgoCorp, since the company is currently one of their assets and we might need to liquidate it for funds. That's all." Frogurt said while one of his black beady eyes was trained squarely on me and the other was aimed elsewhere entirely.

"Yes we all know the official reason why you are here." Murd Blurdock began. "And while the events two months ago at Sakaar are a tragedy, it barely has anything to do with what's really going on here. We all know the reason you are here, is to use this as an excuse to get access to all the proprietary technologies held by OrgoCorp. Technology worth way more than 250 million credits you are demanding now"

Frogurt, spluttered as if taken aback, before declaring haughtily "Preposterous". Soon the two lawyers entered into a heated argument with each other, their voices quickly rising and overlapping so I couldn't make out a word of what either was saying.

I sighed in exasperation and sunk deep into my seat. I began to massage my temple in a vain attempt to fight back the headache that was threatening to spring up and even decided to tune them both out entirely.

This had been going on for the past month, with no sign of either of us reaching any satisfactory resolution any time soon. After the attack on Sakaar, the public outcry had been intense, to say the least.

Despite the death toll being relatively unimpressive on cosmic stage were the death of millions sometimes barely raised an eyebrow. The act was so highly publicized and featured victims from all manner of alien races that it drew lots of attention and equal amount of consequences. The Universal Church of Truth may have come out to officially claim full responsibility for the attack and even provided a full manifesto for why they did, but no one really cared.

People were angry and needed a scape goat to vent their frustration. And a religious group was too nebulous a thing to hate properly. So people pivoted to next best thing to scape goat which was Thane and Guardians' team. Thane for the obvious reason that he had been there at the attack and was a genetic copy a known genocidal despot. Guardians because we were expected to have foiled the attack.

People just couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that we the guardians could save entire civilizations but we couldn't save all spectators at Sakaar. Nevermind the fact that we did actually save at least three thousand spectators

But I guess we had set expectations too high for ourselves with all our galaxy saving escapades. So now the slightest failure was far more glaring. It didn't help that we now had an exploitable weakness through OrgoCorp, so all manner of dubious individuals were trying to cash in over this tragedy.
This was only one of several other concurrent law suits we were facing born from the attack. Many people were keen to point out that legally speaking Thane and all counters in general, were property of OrgoCorp, hence their misdeeds were something, we the guardians were liable for.

Speaking of the Counter's it was hard to say if their situation had improved or not since the attack. They were no more lynches recorded so far. But people still hated them, likely even more now that they now actually had justification. But less people were brave enough to confront them head on now. But that didn't mean they still weren't being hunted. It just meant that dominant group hunting them went from mobs of inexperienced civilian's to actual professional bounty hunters. There was even rumors of there being one particularly formidable faction of bounty hunters, who were actively searching for the remaining Counters.

We the guardians on the other hand currently couldn't intervene or continue in the search of Counters due to all the legal trouble. And maybe that was for the best considering what had happened to Drax. Drax fortunately hadn't died from Thane's attack but he was looking at long road to full recovery.

Due to this half the team like Kraglin and Phylla Vell (Phylla especially because she and her fellow star children viewed Drax as a surrogate father) wanted to wash their hands of the Counters and leave them to be slaughtered.
Other's like Nova and myself still wanted to do something.

Overall everything was a mess right now and I honestly don't know how things could get any worse let alone better.

I tuned back into reality to see the lawyers were still bickering, so much so they were both changing colors from bright red to purple to green and so on. As if to convey just how peeved they were by the other. It would have been funny or at least entertaining on any other day, but right now it was just exhausting. Thus I decided do something I probably shouldn't.

Discreetly I fished out the retracted form of the rod that amplified my energy sensing capabilities. I hadn't used it to check on the status of Counters in a long time due to how busy I was, being the CEO of OrgoCorp and all the baggage that came with position. But I guess now is as good a time as any to check things out.

I went through the motions of spreading out my power to sense them and sure enough it worked. The good news was that most of Counters were still in this Galaxy it seemed. The bad news was that they all seemed congregated at one place which could mean a host things all of them not good.

Among the cluster of Counters, Thane stood out significantly. His energy was still a dark black from the last I saw him in Sakaar.

I tried to get a better read on where exactly they were since like I've mentioned before, this usually isn't very clear. Just a vague intuitive vibe.

But all of a sudden I felt what I could only describe as forceful out of body experience. It was like my soul was pulled across light-years to exactly were the Counters were.

I was momentarily disoriented by the experience but when I finally gained my bearings so to speak, I could take in what was going on.

I was floating over the Counters like an unseen spectral being. They were spread out below me, sitting in the pews of what looked like an opulent cathedral. Creatures of all shapes, sizes and appendages sat in solemn silence with their heads bowed down as if in prayer. Sitting in front them all was Thane dressed in thick black robes. Everything was so clear and detailed it was almost like I was there in person, but I knew I wasn't. I didn't know how or when I learnt to do this. But I was at least a I didn't much like this considering how trippy and weird it felt. But it was undeniably useful.

I looked a bit closer at crowd and counted about thirty or so people. I recognized most of them as Counters we were looking for.

I guess the reason why there had been no new reports of Counter sightings or lynching was that they had all been found and taken in by Thane and his cult somehow.

As I continued to float above everyone, taking it all in, I got the distinct impression I was being watched. Something I instinctively knew shouldn't have been possible.

I looked to the source of my unwanted attention and it was Thane looking straight at me. He slowly got up from the area he was sat at. Never once taking his eyes of me. The others didn't seem to see or notice me. Their heads still bowed and presumably their eyes still closed.

"I see you" he said softly.

I didn't reply. I wasn't even sure I could speak in this state.

"We need to talk. But not like this. Face to face. Let's meet so we can end this madness once and for all. Before things get even further out of hand" he continued.

I still didn't say anything. This time simply because I was unsure of what to say.

"Come to KnowWhere. In three days time. Come alone. Or else..."

With that, he flicked his fingers as if dismissing me and I felt my soul be sent flying back into body.

I jolted awake feeling out of breathe and light headed. The Echomelian lawyers were still deeply engrossed in their argument and hadn't noticed anything out of ordinary with me. So despite having spiritually travelled millions of light years away, I hadn't been gone long enough for them to notice.

I sighed and reclined back into the seat, suddenly feeling exhausted and my mind buzzing with questions.

I had no idea how I had done that. Was it the staff. Or was it him? Was all of that even real? It definitely felt real at least. Hopefully all this was Thane's way of negotiating a peaceful surrender or something. Either way, I had to go to KnowWhere.

"Guess I'm meeting Thane" I muttered quietly to myself

as the lawyers finally gave up the pretense of civility and just started brawling.

What a mess. And ironically an apt metaphor for my life these days.

Chapter Text

THANE

KnowWhere is an ever changing place. Never staying the same for very long. First starting out as the slowly decaying severed head of a Celestial (How the head was separated from the body is still a mystery to this day) it was eventually taken over by the Tivan Corporation owned by the Collector. Where it was plundered and scavenged for all it's cosmic enriched material. Now, after it's been thoroughly hollowed out, it is owned by the Guardians of the Galaxy. And serves as an open sanctuary for the outcasts of the universe. As well as a refuge for many of the High Evolutionary's animal test subjects.

To accommodate the influx of terran animals, KnowWhere had to be completely overhauled to reflect it's new purpose. The massive renovation included adding several large bodies of water for amphibian and water dwelling terran animals like ducks, otters etc to use as their new habitats. There was now also lots of vegetations like trees for birds to nest in. And many more other things.

Despite all this there was still a grittiness to the whole place giving it a distinctly urban feel. So the end result was KnowWhere now resembled a paradoxical mishmash of idyllic flora and fauna, sketchy back alleys, bustling down town areas and kid friendly zones specially designated for the Star Children, the High Evolutionary's last creation.

Needless to say it's a peculiar place and certainly not the ideal location for a fugitive like myself to be. Especially after what I did to one of KnowWhere's most beloved and respected residents, Drax. But despite technically being Guardian territory, it was very much it's own thing, with the former Guardian's who lived here like Nebula and Drax acting more like stewards rather than owners. Plus it being Guardian territory meant no one would expect me of all people to be here in the first place.

So I successfully managed to sneak into the place undetected. Something I'm quickly becoming very good at.

The place buzzed with life and activity, its inhabitants representing a who's-who's of obscure and renowned alien species from across the cosmos living in relative peace. The air was thick with the scent of alien spices from foods, perfumes from plants and the constant hum of machinery and occasional animal call.

I was a few minutes early for the meeting proper, so I spent awhile getting to know the lay of the land. Partly so I could identify a escape route should a quick retreat be necessary and also because I was just curious about the place.

I had stuck to my end of the bargain and hadn't brought along anyone. I hadn't even notified anyone I was coming here. I just upped and left, Sacrosanct (the name of main Cathedral for the universal church of truth) as discreetly as I could. Not an easy task but I managed somehow.

I just hoped Adam also did similar. After satisfying my curiosity I found a dark nook to lurk under whiles I waited for Adam to arrive. I didn't need to wait long.

Adam made his way through the bustling streets of KnowWhere, his blonde perfectly coiffed hair glinting in the artificial lights. He didn't make any attempt to disguise himself but fortunately for him, there were many other gold skin Sovereign men milling about, so he didn't stand out that much. But he stood out to me. The man was practically glowing in my eyes and not just because he was gold colored. But rather his unmistakable vibrant aura that put all others to shame.

As he approached the designated meeting place, I couldn't help but feel myself grow apprehensive. Adam was an enigma—my potential solution to all this insanity or my biggest threat.

I may have called this meeting and dictated conditions, but at the end of the day, how this meeting turned out was solely up to him.

The rendezvous spot was an unassuming tavern nestled in one of the less busy area's of KnowWhere. Adam pushed open the creaky door, stepping into a dimly lit room filled with shady characters. I quietly followed after him and joined him at a back table table. He didn't seem surprised by my sudden presence. Which to me confirmed a suspicion that he was equally aware of my presence, as I was to his.

"Adam Warlock," I said in greeting. "Thane" he replied back, his voice devoid of any emotion.
"Let's not beat around the bush here" I began. "I'm willing to surrender if you can guarantee my safety and safety of my fellow Counters ".

His eyes bugged out in cartoon-ish display of surprise before he quickly schooled his expression back into a neutral one. I still caught the slip up and couldn't help my lips from twitching in suppressed smile.

"Erm ...okay. Wow, didn't know what to expect when you called for a meet up. But surrender is great regardless" he began before clearing his throat and trying to sound more confident and self assured.

"I on the behalf of the rest of Guardians' gladly accept your surrender and promise to keep you safe till your trial.."

I quickly cut him off. "Trial" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Yh.." he said sounding unsure of himself.
"I mean, you killed 500 innocent bystanders on Sakaar."

"I didn't kill anyone. That was all on Supergiant and those damn cultists" I said feeling myself growing angry as I spoke.

"So you say, but regardless you are still associating with those terrorists" Adam replied, matter of fact.

I winced and gritted out "It's complicated" not denying he was speaking the truth.

Adam narrowed his eyes at me in obvious skepticism but didn't say anything for a beat.

"Look we can hash out the technicalities of my culpability in those attacks later, for now let's just focus on my surrender. Just guarantee my safety and I'm all yours" I said resolutely.

Adam frowned and looked me over suspiciously. "Why are you so eager for me to arrest you? What caused this change all of a sudden."

I allowed myself to emit a bitter laugh. "It's simple really. I'm tired. I'm tired of all the death and hate. And I know if we Counters continue our alliance with the Church, it will only escalate further."

Adam studied me for awhile as if trying to detect any deceit from me. When detected none he eventually sighed tiredly.

Maybe he recognized the stubborn determination in my eyes. Or maybe he was just as tired of the chaos.

Eventually Adam nodded, and said with a voice filled with conviction. "I'm choosing to believe you are being sincere with me. So don't disappoint me'

"Likewise" I replied back.

Chapter Text

ADAM

On any other day, the massive exterior walls of Sacrosanct Cathedral would be lined with armed zealots patrolling a top it. There would also be a dozen or so large motion activated laser canons, flame spewing traps with hair trigger tripwire's and a bevy of other deadly security measures all primed and at the ready, waiting to be deployed at a moment's notice. This, combined with the imposing exterior of the Church itself, gave the entire compound a distinctly unwelcoming vibe. More like a foreboding fortress and less like the serene place of worship it was allegedly intended to be. Even today, when all the security measures had been deactivated as Thane had promised (allowing for the Guardian's and I to safely land our ship just outside the walls of the compound) the place was still eerily quiet and creepy. Almost like it was deserted, but we knew it wasn't. Our scans indicated there were multiple life forms standing just behind the wall and out of our immediate view. Which meant all those life forms were likely actively choosing to remain completely silent. And most unnerving of all, they were actually succeeding at that, despite their large numbers.

"I don't like this. It's too quiet. I've organized and been in my fair share of traps. And silence like this is always a dead giveaway that we're walking into one 'em" Kraglin declared as he skittishly palmed the Yaka arrow strapped to his left thigh. "Da, this place is most unsettling" Cosmo said in agreement as she surveyed our new surrounding warily. "Look, I'll admit this place is... unnerving but that doesn't make it a trap. Thane seemed genuine with his surrender proposal. And the fact he didn't attack me when we were all alone on KnowWhere should account for something" I said. "I still can't believe you actually did something so reckless, like talking to him alone without back up. " Kraglin said with Cosmo nodding her head in agreement. "And maybe the reason he didn't attack you then was that he was just playing a long con. Wanting to lull us all into a false sense of security so that he could wipe us out, all at once" Phylla added pragmatically. I opened and closed my mouth a few times. Trying to say something to put them all at ease, but I couldn't. They were right, this could very easily be a trap. Especially since as part of our agreement for this meeting, we the Guardian's had come alone. No back up from anyone else in the intergalactic communities. "Regardless of this being a trap or not, this is still our best chance at solving this quickly. All we can do for our part, is proceed with extreme caution," Nova said resolutely. "Thane and his allies should not to be underestimated. And should it come to it , we will defend ourselves if necessary. Now Let's go"

With that Nova slipped on his helmet and began to walk towards the entrance to Sacrosanct.

Kraglin, Phylla-Vell, Cosmo and I briefly shared a look among ourselves. Each of the Counters possessed the strength and abilities of some of the most fearsome villains the galaxy had ever known, making them a formidable force to be reckoned with. So should a fight break out, it would very much be a kill or be killed scenario. Especially with the zealots of the Universal Church of Truth involved. So in effect Nova had just implicitly given us permission to use lethal force. Something we agreed should be a last resort. Despite the brief pause though, the other's quickly made peace with this and quickly followed after Nova. Begrudgingly I follow suited and we soon all found ourselves standing right in front of the imposing structure.

Without any prompting from any of us the cathedral door automatically slid open allowing us into the compound properly. As we stepped inside, only eerie silence greeted us, broken only by the echoes of our footsteps on the floor. The entrance lead into an open air courtyard that was inexplicably chilly despite it being in the middle of a scorching afternoon. Most of the Courtyard was occupied by what looked like a thousand or more red robe wearing aliens. They had the hoods of their robes pulled up so most of their faces we obscured with only their lower jaw region, or in some cases mandibles, being visible. These aliens formed had formed a U-shape around the entrance. Meaning once we got in we were effectively surrounded. With the only way out being the way we came in. We began to slowly walk further into the empty space they had left in the center, soon coming upon the Counters. They stood in a small cluster in the center, away from rest of the cultists. They stood out from the cultists thanks to the fact that they were clad in personalized clothes and not the robes. Five of them peeled off from the rest and walked over to us.

Considering these five were lead by Thane and looked formidable, I figured they were the rumored new Black Order. There was Thane himself, who was now dressed in a black form fitting jumpsuit with gold armor pieces concentrated around his limbs and torso. Overall i got the feeling his current look was probably meant to evoke the look of his "Father" Thanos' warlord armor. He looked good admittedly, but it wasn't the type of thing one wears to a surrender. Then again did there exist such a thing as appropriate garb for surrendering? Then there was Black Swan the counter of Ebony Maw and Glah Ree the Counter for Ronan the Accuser. Both of whom looked less imposing than Thane in his armor but none the less intimidating. There was also SuperGiant, leader of the Universal Church of Truth. She easily towered over everyone on both sides , standing at 10 feet plus. But she carried herself far more smoothly and gracefully than you would expect for someone of her size. Then finally there was a pale skin woman who looked almost human. She looked young maybe in her late twenties at most, with wild unkempt light auburn hair, all white pupil-less eyes and red tattoo like markings on her face, like that of a domino mask. She was dressed in revealing bikini-like gold armor with a series of long thin strips of red cloth. With one end tied around her waist and the other falling down to her thigh area. It took me awhile to work out who she was from the records of Counters we had, but I eventually did. She was Angela. Counter of the Asgardian goddess of Death , Hela. Mixed with fox DNA. Thus the red hair most likely. Together the new Black Order stopped infront of us, the New Guardian's of the Galaxy. The next generation of the galaxies greatest heroes against the next generation of (potentially) the galaxies greatest villains. For a moment all ten of us quietly sized each other up and the air filled with tension. No one wanting to move first it seems. Eventually though, Thane did. He slowly and deliberately unhooked his weapons. Two identical wicked looking short swords. He then clanged the butts of each sword together, and they instantly fused at the hilt forming into a bladed staff of some kind. Then he got down on both knee's and presented the weapon to me in a clear display of surrender. None of the Black Order members seemed exactly thrilled about this, SuperGiant especially, but none of them interjected or said a word. Slowly I reached over and took the sword-staff from Thane and pierced it into the ground beside me. Then I took out a pair of magnetic cuffs and slapped it on Thane. As I did so, Nova very loudly and clearly began announce to everyone: "Thane for your complacency in the attack at Sakaar you and the rest of the leadership of the Universal Church of Truth will be put on trial to face justice. In return for voluntarily surrendering the remaining Counters, if proven innocent, will be granted protected status and given asylum on KnowWhere." He began to go into a boring spiel elaborating on the minutiae of the surrender. Something both sides already knew, but had to be reiterated just incase. Personally I didn't care to listen. I was just happy everything was going well so far. Creepy welcoming aside, the cultists were being surprisingly cooperative. And so where the Counters. Eventually Nova signaled to each of the guardians to take custody over a member of the Black Order. Nova himself went over to cuff Glah Ree. Cosmo telekinetcially levitated a pair cuffs over to Black Swan. Phylla went over to Angela. And Kraglin went over to SuperGiant. As everyone sorted out their prisoner, I slowly helped Thane back up on to his feet and discreetly whispered into his ears "Was the theatrics really necessary?" I asked good naturedly. He looked over at me and smiled "I have no idea what you are talking about" he replied playfully. I grinned at this. I knew there was still a long trial ahead of us and what not, but I was still happy the immediate chaos was over. "Thank you. This couldn't have been easy. So I promise to keep up my side of deal" I said "I'll hold you to that" he replied. As I began to lead Thane away, I heard a familiar whistle followed by Thane suddenly jolting in pain. Confused I looked over to Thane and noticed how enlarged his all-black eyes were. As if in shock at something. Then purple blood slowly began to trickle out his mouth. I could only watch in horror and shock as Thane suddenly fell to ground and onto his back. Half of a Yaka arrow still prominently protruding out his chest. Stunned I turned around to look at Kraglin. And sure enough his arm was still out stretched from where he had launched the arrow that hit Thane. He looked equally as confused as me, if not more. He kept blinking slowly as if he was gradually waking up from a dream or trance. Behind him, the captive he had been cuffing, SuperGiant smiled knowingly. Instinctively I knew this was her doing somehow. But before I or anyone else could say anything, SuperGiant screeched out in an ear splitting voice that carried across the entire compound "They have killed our savior, when he was at his most vulnerable and was surrendering no less. Avenge our magus. Avenge Thane. Kill these heretics" With that the dead silence of before, was replaced with blood curdling yells of anger as the cultists descended upon us like a wave of death. And with that all hell broke lose.

Chapter Text

ADAM

In my time with the Guardians of the Galaxy, I've been in quite a few battles. Not enough to make me an expert or anything. But certainly enough to predict the odds of a battle going one way or another. Normally using things like comparing the size of both sides forces, the capabilities of each side etc. It wasn't perfect but it was fairly accurate.

So when by my estimation there was approximately two thousand heavily armed cultist, thirty enhanced Counters and of course the new Black Order all against our measly five man team of Guardians. It was safe to say, the odds weren't in our favor

It didn't help that I was still kind of in shock about the assassination of Thane. Was this a trick? Was Thane really dead? Was this always part of his plan from the get go?

These and so many other questions swirled around in my head paralysing me in place. Leaving me incapable of doing much more than to gape at Thane's unmoving form.

The cultists were mere seconds from reaching us, so if the rest of Guardians' had only been reliant on me for direction, thing's would have gone much differently that day.

But fortunately Nova was in a much better head space than me and picked up the slack I had left.

Acting quickly he turned over Phylla Vell and barked out to her "Shield us. Now".

Phylla ,who before that was just as stunned as everyone else, quickly snapped out of it and did as she was told. She activated a device strapped to her wrist, which produced a brief flash of purple light that blinded me and likely every one else in the immediate vicinity.

When the light eventually faded, the Guardians and Thane's body were all encased in a tall light purple dome of see through energy.

I vaguely recalled that this was one of Phylla and Rocket's many creations. The two shared a knack for gadgetry and often spent time bonding by creating all manner of weapons and coming up with new gear for us. Some of said gear was kept shrunken down in the quasar bands Phyla wore around her wrists, always ready to called upon at a moments notice.

The cultists soon reached the dome and began to either hammer at it with their bare fists or pelt them with blaster fire, from guns they had secreted in.

Their attacks were not in vain as the dome was already forming tell tale spider cracks and dents.

"It won't last for long" Phylla said stating the obvious.

"We have to get out here" chimed in Cosmo as she snarled and growled at the hostile forces mere inches away from us.

"How?, we are still surrendered." Phylla asked.

"I'm so sorry guys. This is all my fault. I don't know what came over me" Kraglin muttered softly still looking dazed and confused.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault" I said firmly to Kraglin snapping out of my own stupor to comfort a friend in need.

"It was her" I sneered as glared venomously at Supergiant who like the rest of the Black Order were outside the barrier.

She was easily visible standing as usual head and shoulders above everyone else.

"It doesn't matter whose fault this is, we have to get out of here" Phylla said in obvious distress as bigger and bigger shards of the barrier began to flake off due to the continuous assault on it.

"Remain calm, the calvary should be here soon" Nova said sternly as he stared intently at the empty sky.

"Calvary?" I said in surprise, wondering to myself how anyone could came to our aid on such short notice. Only for Nova's next statement to answer my unasked question.

"You don't honestly think I allowed myself to enter behind enemy lines, without back up did you?" Nova asked.

As if to prove his point a familiar ship suddenly flew down from the sky, parting clouds in the process and basking it sunlight. Giving it a sort of divine or descending from heaven vibe.

I didn't know whether to be happy for the rescue or be upset that Supergiant wasn't the only one here who disobeyed the terms of this meeting. The ship drew dangerously close to ground, so much so it kicked up wind and dust that forced the cultist to back away slightly from the dome.

A hatch opened from the ship and I could make out two familiar faces. Nebula and Gamora. And some other people I vaguely recognized as members of the ravagers crew.

Gamora held onto a nearby pole and leaned out of the ship to shout down to those of us in the dome "Need a lift?" She asked cheekily.

Despite the urgency of the situation Nova smirked and replied back "If that wouldn't be too much trouble love".

Confused, I looked over to Kraglin and mouthed "Love" in askance at him. He shrugged, clearly just as confused by the inexplicable over-familiarity Nova was showcasing here.

But before we could address that, there was an ear splitting crunch of metal and the ship began to tilt downwards as if being dragged to the ground. The ship desperately fought against whatever invisible force was pulling it down, but it looked to be in a losing battle.

I looked frantically around for the cause of the unknown force and caught sight of the pale skin Black Swan with both her hands out stretched in direction of ship. Evidently she was trying to ground the ship with her telekinesis.

For all this while the Counters and Black Orders hadn't been doing anything, but this act by Black Swan seemed to flip a switch in them. Prompting them to finally act.

"Go. Take shelter in the cathedral. We will handle the invaders" Supergiant ordered loudly to the remaining Counters causing them to start retreating back inside. Leaving behind the black order and the cultists.

Not to be out done by her fellow telekinetic, Cosmo began to apply telekinetic force to lift up the still falling ship. The push and pull force coming from the rival psychics seemed to be equally applied as the ship just awkwardly hanged in the air unmoving.

Through gritted teeth Cosmo growled out in obvious frustration "This nina..., she's strong"

With the ship no longer a threat to them, the cultists reconvened back on the barrier to attack us.

"Damn it. I doubt the ravagers ship can handle being at the centre of telekinetic tug of war for very long so we have to act fast. Fortunately we have to another escape vessel." Nova said turning towards my direction

"Adam, Kraglin take Thane's body back to The Queen and use that to get out of here." With that order he then turned towards Phylla "You take out as many cultists as you can". Finally he turned to the still straining Cosmo.

"Cosmo, continue doing what you're doing, whiles I head over to Black Swan and see whether I can stop her some how" with that, he didn't even wait for any of us to give confirmation before igniting himself in purple power stone energy and blasting he's way out of dome and into the battle.

The other's didn't hesitate to follow their given instructions and neither did I. I rushed over to Thane's form, still unmoving and gradually becoming paler, and began the macabre task of hulling his body to safety.

I wasn't too sure why I needed to do this, if he was really dead, but I decided to trust Nova knew what he was doing. As I gently scooped him up bridal style, I heard Kraglin whistle in an attempt to call back the Yaka arrow, but the weapon only jiggled around lamely to deeply lodged in his chest.

"Dude leave it" I snarled as Kraglin kept trying to call back his weapon in vain, and he sheepishly stopped.

"Sorry, but I do need a weapon so I can clear a path through the cultists for us" he stated.

Drawing Thane's form closer to my chest I replied resolutely "Don't worry, I can gladly make a way for us" I said before blasting forward in flight, leaving a trail of gold light and vaporized cultists.

I was no longer hesitant about killing these guys anymore. Just thoroughly fed up with their actions.

I quickly carved a path through the crowds, dodging or tanking blaster fire sent my way. I soon reached The Queen and hurried inside not bothering to make sure Kraglin was still with me. I hurried to the med bay section of ship and awkwardly deposited Thane onto the surgical table there.

The table quickly scanned his body and a computerized voice emotionlessly informed me "No Signs of life detected". Ignoring that, I rushed to a wall of med packs, grabbed one and tried to strap and activate one on him.

The pack beeped once and declared via hologram that it could not do anything on account of Thane being proprietary technology of OrgoCorp. Similar to what Rocket went through when I attacked him.

I yelled to the pack "I'm the bloody CEO of OrgoCorp and I give full authorization to fix this man, clearance be damned".

The pack hummed as if contemplating my request before once again beeping and saying "Access granted. However no life signs detected"

I stood for a minute stunned. Unsure of what do next.
Was that it? Was Thane truly dead.

I didn't get much time to process this, as I heard a commotion at the entrance of ship. The fight was still rage on outside.Still numb and in shock I zombie walked over to the source of the nearest commotion.

Soon finding Kraglin valiantly fighting off a trio of tough looking cultists but ultimately still losing. Acting more on autopilot than anything else I strode over to them and immediately blasted two of them dead.

The third and final one panicked and rushed past me to escape inside the ship. Growling in frustration I chased after the cultist. Expecting to find the alien heading towards the ship's control centre in order to steal the ship and flee. But instead I found the cultist heading into the med bay.

As I quickly followed after them, I came upon the cultist pulling out the Yaka arrow still in Thane's chest. Then declaring in a loud voice "May my sacrifice reignite the flames off the Magus", the cultist then stabbed themselves with the Yaka arrow. Instantly ending their own life.

Stunned I watched as the cultist collapsed dead on to the floor. Their blood slowly pooling around them. For a few seconds nothing happened then all of a sudden Thane shot upright in a sitting position desperately gasping for air.

The sizeable chest wound the Yaka arrow left, smoked and hissed as it began to heal itself.

Thane looked over to me, confused and dazed.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked him. But got no answer as the entire ship was abruptly rocked by a massive explosion and everything thing went dark.

Chapter Text

THANE

My death was fortunately a painless affair. Not too surprising considering how quickly it was carried out. But nonetheless I still appreciated that it wasn't some long drawn out and overly excruciating ordeal. It was certainly a far quicker death than that endured by some of my fellow Counters. But I will admit, when what happened is described in detail it does sound quite harrowing.

The Yaka arrow had pierced clean through the uru armor protecting my chest. Then through the muscles and tendons of my left pectoral. And finally straight into my heart. It severed major arteries in there immediately upon impact, making it the epitome of a fatal wound if ever there was such a thing. Then, whether to make sure it really killed me. Or as a malicious and literal act of twisting the knife of betrayal, the arrows' tip was made to vibrate at a high frequency whiles still lodged in my chest. Effectively turning the arrow into a veritable blender that shredded what remained of my heart and caused me to reflexively cough up the liquefied remain's of it. All this within a span of five seconds or less. I didn't really have time to process I was dying let alone try and stop it somehow. Not that I could have reacted fast enough to stop the attack anyway. It was just too fast and came out of nowhere. I was a goner, the moment that Kraglin guy pursed his lips together to whistle.

So you can understand my surprise, when I bolted awake in an up right position, quite alive and feeling a sickeningly familiar thrill of exhilaration and energy like the time back at Sakaar. I slowly began to process my surroundings and take stock of things. I appeared to be in the medical bay of someone's ship (probably the Guardians'). And Adam Warlock was standing at the entrance gawking at me as if he was seeing a ghost. Which I guess I kind of was. And there was a dead cultist on the floor beside, the surgical table I was sitting on. I had barely processed all of this before all of a sudden the ship was rocked by a tremendous explosion, causing it to flip onto it side alongside everyone and everything inside it. I myself was thrown so violently against an adjacent wall, that it was a small miracle I didn't crack my skull and didn't die all over again.

Adam however wasn't so lucky, as he was sent careening into wall and slammed so hard against it, he was knocked unconscious immediately. Once the ship stopped shaking and settled in it's new position on it's side, I awkwardly scrambled up from where I had landed and moved over to Adam. I tried waking him up but he was mostly unresponsive. So I ended up switching my vision from the normal colored one to that of the grayed-out world of souls. His soul was as vibrant as ever, indicating to me he was still alive and just unconscious.

I briefly contemplated carrying him along as I attempted to leave this ship. But I eventually decided against that due to the fact that, aside from now being on it's side, the ship seemed relatively alright and safe. Unlike outside, where I could hear the sounds of a heated ongoing battle. So begrudgingly I left Adam to recover alone, and I awkwardly picked my way off the ship. The minute I made my way out of the ship, I was left dumbfounded by the utter chaos I beheld.

The massive courtyard of Sacrosanct Cathedral was now a site for many small pockets of fighting that were coalescing into one massive brawl. The bulk of the fighting was going on the ground level between several hundred Cultists and a much smaller contingent of alien mercenaries. I probably would not have recognized these unfamiliar assembly of aliens if not for the ravager jackets they were all wearing. When had the Ravagers come here? I had no idea. But the fact is they were here and despite being massively outnumbered they were putting up one hell of a fight. For every one ravager killed, a dozen or more cultist followed. Notably among the brawling ravagers and cultist was the young Phylla Vell, unleashing all manner of weapons upon the cultists. SuperGiant also stood a safe distance away from most of the fighting, but still participating in it by barking orders and instructions to her people.

A little bit away from them, was Cosmo and Black Swan engaged in twisted game of catch. Black Swan would telekinetically uproot a massive structure like a neighboring pillar or statue. Then lob it at Cosmo at incredible speed. In return Cosmo would catch the projectile before it hit her, and throw it right back to Swan. Creating an endless loop of back and forth telekinetic hot potato. Sequestered much further away from everyone else (likely a conscious choice on everyone else's part to avoid being caught in their cross fire) was Nebula, Gamora and Angela engaged in a two versus one fight.

All three were likely the most skilled and deadly female warriors in the galaxy, If not outright the greatest warriors in galaxy regardless of gender. And their skill was on full display as they fought with equal parts grace and ferociousness, dancing around each other's attacks and launching retaliatory attacks of their own. Angela held the obvious advantage with physical attributes akin to her Asgardian mother, Hela. Plus her own unique ability to control and extend nine independent ribbon-like weapons, so that these ribbons whipped around slashing, grabbing and blocking thing's around her. Almost like the arms of a crazed terran octopus or in her specific case, the nine tails of the Japanese fox spirit of legend.
But Gamora and Nebula also held advantages of their own in terms skill, team work and experience, allowing them to keep Angela on her toes.

It was kind of surreal that this was the first time I was seeing my sisters' (or I guess Daughter's if you want to make thing's weird) in person. I only knew what was publicly available about them, which wasn't much to begin with. But I was still left feeling sort of proud and in awe, that I was related (by adoption, but that still counts) to such badass people. Plus it gave me hope that I could one day, be accepted by the wider galaxy as a full on hero like Nebula or a roguish outlaw like Gamora, in spite of my heritage and past misdeeds. Just like they had.

My attention was pulled away from their fight and to the air above, where Glah Ree and Nova we zipping through the air at great speed like haphazard purple rockets. They would periodically stop mid air to try and blast enemies down below, before continuing their two man dog fighting duel in air.
I had a sneaking suspicion it was one of their errant blasts of power stone energy bolts that knocked over the guardians' ship in the first place.
Finally, I turned to the last pocket of fighting, if you could even really call it a fight and not just a one sided siege. About thirty or so cultist had Kraglin pinned down with blaster fire, behind a fallen pillar as his only form of cover. Kraglin would occasionally try to return fire from measly blaster bolt her carried, but it was very ineffectual.

As soon as I laid eyes upon him I felt bitter rage sweep through. There was the bastard who tried to kill me. On the verge of losing and being killed himself. Without really thinking it through I ignited myself in black flames and jetted over towards him. As I flew over the battlefield, heading towards Kraglin, I felt myself grow stronger and stronger. Looking down I noticed just like at Sakaar, embers of those dead or dying, where floating over to enrich me. But this time I welcomed their energy, wanting to be as powerful as was necessary to kill Kraglin.

I was so engrossed in my pursuit of Kraglin, I hadn't yet noticed my sudden appearance alive and well, had immediately halted all the fighting. And even after I did finally notice, I ignored it to focus on my mission. I soon landed with a dramatic flourish near Kraglin and walked the remaining few steps over to apprehend him. He barely resisted as I grabbed him by the scruff his jacket and hoisted him up easily.
"You tried to kill me" I growled at him as I stared unwaveringly into his scared eyes.

"No...I mean I fired the arrow, but not out off my own volition. It wasn't me...I swear. I don't know how she did it but it was that SuperGiant chick's doing" he babbled desperately.
I looked into his eye's searching for deceit, and all I found was genuine fear. But I still somehow intuitively knew he wasn't lying.

I looked across the now silent battlefield all the way over to SuperGiant herself. She probably heard the accusation against her, but she seemed not at all shocked by it and even almost smug about it.

This revelation simultaneously did not make any sense and at the same time wasn't too surprising. It was unsurprising because SuperGiant was easily the most vocal member of my new black order who felt betrayed and angered by the surrender I negotiated. And I could understand that me making a unanimous decision that also affected her was maddening. But mad enough to kill me?

Wasn't I her messiah, I thought to myself.

"You were. But as any religion will tell you. Messiah's work best as martyr's. You were better off dead than alive once you sought to betray me" a voice that was not my own rung out in my head. Shocked I clutched my head in pain from the sudden intrusion into my mind.
"SuperGiant... You're telepath" I asked internally in shock. "In a manner of speaking" I heard her voice coo into my mind once again.

"I've told you many times already. I was not gifted enough for physical combat, but I was still an indispensable asset to your father in the world of politics. Using my power I can enter the minds of others to discern their thoughts and true feelings, Project my own thoughts into their mind. And if I've built enough rapport with a person, or the person is weak willed enough like that Kraglin fella, I can compel them to do my bidding."

She paused briefly allowing me time to digest this new information. I should have known there was something to uncanny with her ability to persuade others including me. My time with the cult had presented many instances of unusual obedience from cultist. And at the time I chalked it up to metaphorical cult brainwashing. But I know knew it was quite literal.
'I will kill you for this" I growled

"I highly doubt that. My first plan of permanently killing you in order to martyr you is out of the question now. So I think I'll go with plan B and use you like the weapon, you were intended to be. So be a dear and kill all these pesky guardian's and ravagers for me." She hissed in my mind.

"I will never..." I began to say out loud only to stop mids sentence. As to my horror and shock, I suddenly lost control over my mouth and my body as a whole. Then I felt myself move in order to obey her commands. Starting by squeezing the life out of Kraglin who was still in my clutches.

"Stop" I yelled internally to myself trying in vain to will my body back into my control. But to no avail. I was nothing more than a puppet of SuperGiant now. And with the life force I had already absorbed so far. There is no question, I'll be powerful enough to wipe out the ravagers and guardian's.

Chapter Text

THANE

Choking someone to death is an oddly intimate process. From making direct skin to skin contact, due to your palms being clasped around your victims throat. And through this point of contact, being able to feel the weakening of their pulse and the desperate straining of their neck muscles.

Even the classic act of seeing the life draining out of their eyes, as a myriad of emotions, like desperation, shock and finally defeat, play across their face, is an oddly personal experience.

Something so intense and private, that only the two of you will ever share. It's honestly just as traumatic an experience for the person doing the choking, as it is for the person being choked.

Especially if the person doing the choking, is like me and completely unwilling in the first place.

But alas, despite how hard I tried to will myself to stop, I could only watch in vain as my own body carried out the filthy deed of killing Kraglin.

I vaguely wondered to myself why I choose choking of all things as my modus operandi. With my wide assortment of abilities, there were certainly swifter and less agonizing ways than, the slow process I had opted to here.
But I guess maybe some small part of my psyche wanted to savor my first real kill. Not so I could gloat or cherish it. But to burn it into my memories. And thus serve as a constant reminder for the real consequences of my hubris and foolishness in trusting SuperGiant.

Regardless though, my slow means of execution allowed time for someone to step in and stop me. And that someone was none other than Gamora. And she intervened in the most brutal fashion possible.

I didn't even notice Gamora winding up to attack. Neither did I feel the impact of said attack. Instead I initially only heard the aftermath of it. With the wet whoosh sound made by her sword, as my left hand (which had been choking Kraglin) was l sliced off.

Time became almost like syrup, as I watched in sluggish slow mo as my detached hand flew off the rest of my body in a spray of purple blood. Still firmly clasped around Kraglin's throat in a vice grip, but no longer able to apply the killer pressure around his throat.

Kraglin collapsed onto the dusty ground and immediately frantically began to cough and splutter. Desperately trying to gulp in some much needed oxygen.

Meanwhile, I instinctively braced for the rush of pain that was sure to follow losing an arm. But to my surprise it never came.

Apparently part of SuperGiant's strategy for mind controlling others was to numb the pain receptors of her victims. Something which might sound like a good thing (and in this case it was certainly appreciated), but in the long run she did this not out of kindness, but to ensure that even if her thralls reached their physical limit, they would carry on their mission, regardless of pain or threat to life.

Once I realized the pain was never coming, I spared a look to my missing hand to asses the damage. Gamora had perfectly cut through the joints and tendons in my wrist, completely severing them.

It was such a clean cut, that I numbly wondered to myself whether I would be able to surgically reattach it if I acted fast. But my worry was for naught as the stump that remained of my hand began to sizzle, smoke and smoulder. And almost immediately a perfect replica of my old hand sprouted out of the severed stump. Stunned, I flexed the newly formed fingers and curled them into a fist.

It didn't feel any different or weird. And there was still no apparent pain or stiffness. It was honestly quite disconcerting how little I was feeling. But regardless, I deduced all the energies I had absorbed during the skirmish here on Sacrosanct had really amplified my powers to ridiculous level.
To the point where now my regeneration extended beyond life threatening injuries.

I didn't have much time to dwell on this though, as I heard an all too familiar voice hiss into my mind.
"Don't just stand there gawking at yourself. Kill the guardians and ravagers like I ordered you" SuperGiant voice snarled directly into my mind.

I immediately felt my body snap into action and turn in search of Gamora and Kraglin.

At some point (probably after Gamora had attacked me) the pockets of fighting in the court yard, had restarted once more. So I had to actively scan the area looking for the duo, as they were being obscured by the rest of the fighting.

Failing to make headway searching like this, I ignited myself in flames and shot up into air. So I could hover above most of the battle field and get a much needed vantage point view. With my new elevation I quickly spotted them rushing towards the guardians ship, which was still knocked over on it's side. They had already covered a remarkable amount of distance in that short time so I needed to resort to ranged attacks in other to try and get them.

I began to hurl balls of coalesced black flames at their retreating form, not caring if I hit zealots or ravagers. The duo narrowly escaped my projectiles but a lot of zealots and ravagers weren't so lucky. My blasts at least gave them a quick death, instantly burning them down to ash and nothingness.

Realizing however, that I would need to get closer in other to land a proper hit though, I jetted towards them, still hurling fire balls their way. Soon, I was within arm's reach of Gamora and sought to take advantage of this to grab her and incinerate her, when I was suddenly knocked aside by bright purple force of energy.

"Hey" growled my attacker, the nova corpsman "Get away from them" he snarled. He looked worn out and battered. Likely exhausted after only recently defeating Glah Ree. But he was resolute and determined nonetheless. He flew down towards me and began to rain punches on me.

His punches were undeniably powerful, especially as they were enhanced by his power stone energy. But the unfortunate truth of the matter was that at this moment I was just too powerful. And I was only growing more powerful, as the battle around us raged on and more people perished. Thus inadvertently adding to my power.

Eventually I grew tired of being his punching bag and caught one of his punches mid strike. Then I sharply twisted his arm in an awkward angle hearing a distinct crack sound, as his wrist bones snapped. Nova cried out in pain, unlike me he was perfectly capable of feeling pain. And also lacking in a healing factor to quickly mend the broken wrist. Despite the pain he was in I didn't let up. Instead choosing to return the favor so speak, raining down my own flurry of punches but this time to much greater effect.

SuperGiant's order to kill the Guardians, still rung loudly in my head and I was on the verge of fulfilling this order, starting with Nova. Fortunately though, once again, another possible murder of a guardian was halted by the interference of Gamora.

She had apparently abandoned her initial strategy of escorting Kraglin to safety and instead returned to save Nova. She once again swung her sword at me, this time fully intending to separate my head from the rest of my body by decapitation. Her blade never landed though, as the passive heat I was now emitting had reached such ludicrous temperatures that it melted her sword's blade down to a liquid sludge, just before it reached my neck.

She cried out in pain. Dropping the now red hot handle of all that remained of her sword and stumbled back away from me.

Despite Gamora posing no immediate threat to me, for some reason I choose to not finish off the now bloody and badly beaten Nova, and instead refocus on the her instead.

I began on to slowly stalk towards her.

Every measured step I took, leaving a scorched footprint in my dusty wake. The air around me vibrated and blurred from heat I was generating. And the flames that enveloped me grew more pronounced and unruly. Eagerly crackling and licking the air as if searching for something to burn.

Gamora tried harder to scramble away from me. In order to avoid my over powering heat. But she tripped and fell in the process of retreating. Eventually having to result to an undignified form of crawling backwards in terror.

Once again all the mini battles raging across the courtyard abruptly ceased. This time, due to the overwhelming heat I was generating causing everyone to begin to collapse to ground in pain and from sudden spontaneous dehydration.

"What are you doing?" I heard Supergiant hiss intk my mind in panic. "You'll kill us all if you don't temper your heat"

"You said, 'kill the guardians and ravagers'. But you never specified how though"

I mentally replied back to her stoically. I didn't want to kill the guardians. Or anybody else for that matter.

But I was tired. Tired of all the running. Tired of all the fighting. Tired of the scheming and betrayals. I just wanted to end this all once and for all. I was born into a universe that hated and refused to accept me. So why continue to try and play be it's rules and be good.

So I resigned myself to SuperGiant's control. But under one caveat. I wasn't just going to kill the guardians. But every last being here. Counters, Ravagers, Zealots ...everyone.

For some like Counters, I saw this as an act of mercy. There was no way we would ever be at left in peace in this cruel galaxy. Other's like the Zealots and Supergiant this was just good old fashioned revenge. And others still were just caught in the unfortunate cross fire, like the guardians and ravagers'.

If this was the only way to end this all once and for all, so be it. I would release one massive blast to power to kill everyone. It might even kill me myself. But in the end it will all be over. And at least it will be a relatively painless mode of death.

Realizing I fully intended to kill the guardians alongside everyone else, SuperGiant began to panic. "I...command you ...to.." she tried to say but she never got to finish her sentence as she like many other's in the courtyard, succumbed to the unbearable heat and passed out. Even with her unconscious, her last command Kill the guardians. Still rung in my head. Compelling me to proceed SuperGiant might have forced me into this path. But at least I would get the last laugh

Closing my eyes, I begin to will all the fire and power around and within me to constrict and become pressurized. So that it would be more devastating when I finally unleashed it .

Once I felt had built up enough power, I opened my eyes intending to look upon everyone one last time before I end it all.

By now everyone who was still alive had fallen unconscious. And I alone stood tall among, the piles of unconscious bodies strewn across the place.

"Farewell." I thought beginning the process of unleashing the inferno I had amassed when all of a sudden I hit by something.

The shock of the impact halted my detonation, and whatever hit me was so large and so fast, I was plastered onto it as it continued to speed upwards.

Fighting against massive amounts of wind pressure and drag, I was being spontaneously subjected to. I managed to peel my eyes open and get a look at what was going on.

I was comically splayed across the glass screen of a space ship, like some sort of unfortunate overgrown space bug caught on a windshield. I recognized the sleek design of the ship in question as the guardians ship, the Queen. Where I had left Adam Warlock to recover in.

And judging by the fact he was seated in the cockpit piloting the ship directly into me, he had clearly recovered alright.

Heck he had even had time to quickly assess what was going on. Specifically what I was about to do. So in order to stop me he crashed his entire ship into me, and dragged the two of us away from my would be victims.

The bastard was choosing to save all the lives of the people down in the courtyard, whiles sacrificing himself in the process. Admirable. But ultimately futile.

If I acted fast, I could still expel enough energy to rain back down onto those in Sacrosanct, killing them, even if we were at cloud level.

Plus, SuperGiant's order still compelled me to kill the Guardians, so killing Adam would still be my top priority.

Adam was be far the last person I wanted to kill. But I had to. I just hoped he forgave me.

I made one last final eye contact with me as I entered the last stages of priming before detonation. Trying to convey all my regret and sympathy just through I contact alone.

Though he met my gaze, he only seemed confused by what he saw in my eyes. Dejected, I allowed myself to release all the pent up energy We just breaking through the cloud cover and bearing witness to honestly quite beautiful, skyline, when I unleashed all my pent up power in a blinding flash of white light before everything went dark.

Chapter Text

ADAM

I sighed in exasperation, as I felt the all to familiar feeling, of a set of thick tentacles trying to discreetly curl around my feet.

Despite the obvious attempt to be sneaky, I easily detected the pink colored appendages snake slowly around my ankles, forcing me stop in place. This had to be the fourth or fifth attempt by an Abilisk to grab and eat me in just the last hour. Something I obviously wasn't too enthused by, most especially because I was supposed to be on serene leisurely stroll. You would think after all the several failed attempts already, these Abilisk would realize I was solidly not on the menu. But nope. They are quite the persistent bunch I guess.

"Don't even think about it" I warned aloud. Not even bothering to turn and look in the direction of whichever particular Abilisk owned the tentacles currently trying to grab.

Said tentacles briefly halted their movements, as their owner weighed the pros and cons of defying my threat.

Eventually though the Abilisk in question seemed to conclude it was worth the risk. I was swiftly knocked off my feet and flipped upside down to dangle over a large gaping maw.

Up close the sight of it's large rounded mouth filled with many sharp rowed teeth, plus the feel of it's warm stinky breath, probably should have terrified me more. But I knew I wasn't truly in danger. At least not with Mantis near by.

"Mantis! Your pet is trying to eat me again" I called out to her, more exasperated by the whole situation than truly fearful /p>

There was brief delay in reply, as Mantis rushed to round a corner up ahead and come to my aid. She stopped to quickly take in the ridiculous, but by now all to familiar sight, of me being about to eaten by her pet before saying

"Kevin for the last time, Adam isn't food, put him down!" She ordered. Immediately causing the massive creature (apparently named Kevin) to whine in disappointment and begrudgingly drop me unharmed back to the ground.

I landed unceremoniously on the grassy floor with an "oof" and slowly rose up and dusted myself clean.

"Sorry about that. They usually eat batteries, not people" Mantis explained, giving me a concerned once over. Making sure I was fine.

"Yeah I know. Mother once told me how Abilisk's used to terrorize the Anulax battery farms on Sovereign. And at one point the Sovereign even needed to call upon the old Guardians' to deal with them. Anyway, I guess they can detect I'm basically a walking Anulax battery. So I get their interest. Though I don't appreciate it"

I said, punctuating the last part of spiel by sending the Abilisk who tried to eat me a dirty look.

The large pink skinned behemoth had the decency of looking rightfully rebuked. And even began to lumber off in shame.

"I hope you are okay though?" Mantis asked, her large jet black eyes wide clearly conveying her concern.

"Trust me, I'm okay" I assured her. Seemingly satisfied by my answer, Mantis nodded her head and moved on to other matters.

"Anyway, I was already on my way to tell you something. It's Thane. He's beginning to wake up".

I felt myself immediately tense up upon hearing this. Feeling a strange mix of equal part relief and nervousness. I managed to shake these conflicting feelings aside for now though and urged Mantis to lead the way to him.

Together the two of us, quickly made our way through the lush terrain of Euphoria.The secluded jungle-like planet Mantis now called home.

Ever since leaving the Guardians about a year or so ago to find herself, Mantis had become a bit of a recluse. She initially travelled the galaxy adventuring and travelling, till for what ever reason she abruptly choose to settle down here and open what I could only really describe as a cosmic rehabilitation center. A sanctuary for all the mentally broken beings in the universe.

I guess it made sense for her to become what's functionally a therapist. Her empathic ability likely helped a lot in that regard. But it's still an impressive achievement on her part.

Euphoria is a dwarf planet, located in what is ostensibly the back waters of the Galaxy. Making it pretty sequestered from the rest of the space faring civilization.

It's a bit of a strange place, in that, despite being a densely forested area, with absolutely massive trees and vast ocean like water bodies, it was often very quiet and devoid of the usual sounds of forest life. This wasn't to it's demerit though, as the lack of noise, often added to it's tranquil ambience.

As we rushed to Thane's room, we journeyed through the thick foliage of Euphoria, soon ascending up a large set of wooden stairs, taking as from the canopy flee up to a cluster of tree houses, tucked upon massive branches of trees. All while the rays of the dual suns of Euphoria, were gently filtered down upon us in warm arcs, by the pink leaves of the trees.

As we went, we passed by the myriad of life forms who were here for Mantis' guidance and healing. From veteran Kree and Skrull soldiers traumatized by their races centuries old war, but now milling about together with no overt hostility to each other. To abilisks, who now populated the place in great numbers. Drawn here by the battery like crystals that often sprouted on the grounds of Euphoria. We also passed by a few Cotati, the sentient humanoid-plant creatures, who were native to Euphoria. And many other species I wouldn't immediately discern.

The atmosphere up in the tree house cluster had a distinctly laid back vibe, in part due to the mildly hallucinogenic pollen released by the trees here. Something which lead to everyone here looking a bit too high on life if you get my drift. Coupled with the fact that most people were dressed in colorful loose fitting garb, I often felt this places was sometimes less like a rehab center and more like a commune of laissez-faire hippies.

As we went, some inhabitants called out greetings to Mantis. Hailing her as healer, leader and most often Celestial Madonna. The last title in particular she seemed especially embarrassed by, but she apparently couldn't seem to convince them to stop calling her that even though she told me she had tried.

Eventually we reached Thane's residence. A small white hut perched on a thick branch, noticeably further off from the other cluster of huts. Mantis typed in a code on a display panel located outside, allowing us in. We slipped inside to find a sparsely furnished hut and a slowly awakening Thane.

It took a second, but he eventually blinked his eyes open and began to orient himself.

"Where?..where am I?" he asked in a groggy and confused voice. However, already, I noticed he seemed a bit defensive and wary. Something Mantis apparently also clocked as she quickly reached over to clasp ontp one of his bare hands. And judging by the faint glow coming from the tips of her antennae, she used her empathic power to calm him.

"It's okay. Everything thing is alright." She cooed softly at Thane. He noticeably relaxed after that, and once again repeated his initial question. This time sounding significantly less agitated. I decided to take the initiative to explain things to him.

"We are on Euphoria. We came here when you..." I trailed off, unsure of whether to say the truth or not just yet.

Instead I pivoted to ask my own question "Umm, how much do you remember?" I asked cautiously.

Thane blinked and squinted, as he strained to remember something. "We were on Sacrosanct for the surrender. Then there was fight...SuperGiant" he paused as he reached up to massage his temple as if just remembering it, brought back pain.

He continued saying "She did something to my mind. Made me go berserk. I nearly..." He trailed off once again looking up at me.

"I nearly killed everyone" he said softly in a forlorn voice.

"Yes" I admitted "But you didn't. I was able to stop your in time."

Frowning at this he squinted in concentration once again, getting another faraway look on his face as he remembered something else. "You stopped me from detonating by crashing a ship into me?" he asked.

"Sort of. I crashed the ship into you and flew the two us as high as I could. When I realized we still weren't far enough and the explosion would likely still kill those on the ground, I panicked and activated the ship's UNT jump gate to teleport us further away. It worked...a bit too well actually. In my panic I jammed the UNT gate activation lever in place, causing us to perform several hundred back to back jumps, before the systems overloaded and spat us conveniently over here. " I explained. Gesturing lightly to our current surrounding.

"The trauma of so many back to back jumps, halted your explosion but left you unconscious. You've been in and out consciousness for about a week now" Mantis added.

"Oh ..." Thane said lamely, barely seeming to process all this information. He suddenly perked up and asked

"What about the people back on Sacrosanct? What happened to them?"

I and Mantis shared a look, eventually breaking it so Mantis could turn and face Thane as she explained things further.

"We don't really know to be honest. Euphoria is very sequestered, with the only time for sending and receiving transmissions being about every two weeks, when the planet orbits back into communication range. So we still have to wait one more week till we can make contact with the survivors of Sacrosanct."

"And the ship we came here in, is currently unusable right now, so I can't just flyback and check" I added.

"So we are in the dark about what's going on in the outside world until a week from now?" He summarized.

"Pretty much" I say bluntly.

"Fuck, this is all my fault" he muttered, collapsing back into bed.

I only barely managed to resist the urge to remark aloud something unhelpful, like 'It's not really your fault.. but also it kind of is'. Instead took the opportunity to quietly assess him instead.

He was naked from the torso up, giving me full view of his muscled form. And I couldn't help but enviously note that despite us both being literally genetically engineered perfect male specimen, he seemed slightly more muscular than me. His skin was also unblemished and smooth, lacking even a scar around where Kraglin's Yaka arrow had pierced his heart. Coupled with his objectively handsome face, I had to admit he looked pretty good for someone who should be dead.

Speaking off which, I still wasn't over the fact he had come back from dead. How was that even possible in the first place? Did it have consequences or was it unlimited? How did it work in the first place? And most importantly, could he bring others back from dead? Like Mother, perhaps?

I knew better than to bombard him, with these kinds of questions just yet. But I definitely planned on broaching this subject later on, after all this is sorted out. But I was pulled back to the present by Thane speaking up once more.

"Could this situation get any worse?" He groaned, as he massaged his temple in frustration.

Once again Mantis and I, shared a look, silently debating whether we should risk sharing the last nugget of bad information.

Eventually, it was decided we did. Mantis would lead as she had better tact then I generally had though.

"Unfortunately there's more. Whiles you were unconscious, we had many...shall I say close calls with you."

Thane looked at us both with a perplexed look. So she explained further.

"The energy you were planning to detonate back on Sacrosanct never actually went off, so it still resides inside you. Through out your time whiles unconscious, there were several instances were you seemed to be on the verge of releasing said energy. Seemingly as a result of heightened emotions, so I had pacify you with my powers".

He still looked confused, so I decided to step in and rip off the metaphorical bandaid.

"Basically, what we're saying, is that you are still a ticking time bomb. It's just that now, you have a much more fragile fuse" I explained bluntly.

"Fuck..." He muttered.

"Indeed"

Chapter Text

ADAM

"Slowly breath in through whichever organ serves as your species equivalent of a humanoid nostril". Mantis said softly to the assembly of diverse aliens, sitting before her.

Leading to many present to comply in their own unique ways. Such as a pink skinned elephant looking alien to noisily inhaling air through their trunk, producing a sound almost like a suctioning vacuum. Or a green Jell-O looking creature, morphing it's viscous body so that it formed a pair of nostrils to breath from.

I also followed suite and inhaled deeply a generous lungful of the crisp fresh air of Euphoria. I immediately felt a wave of light headedness sweep over me as alongside, the harmless oxygen I inhaled, I had also inadvertently just taken in a major puff of the mildly hallucinogenic pollen that perfused the air of Euphoria.

The hallucinogenic pollen wasn't dangerous or particularly potent, but still, taking so much of it in, all at once, left me feeling a tad woozy and definitely a bit buzzed. But I held in the lungful of air I had taken until finally Mantis uttered

"Now breath out"

Her instruction, predictably resulted in a minor ruckus, as all the aliens from before "exhaled" in just as unique a way as they had "inhaled".

"Close your eyes and relax. Clear your minds of all thoughts and worries. Trust that universe will sort those things out and instead try focus on finding inner peace" Mantis continued on unperturbed. Sounding decidedly sagely as she calmly took us through a guided group meditation.

I did as she said, finding it surprisingly easy for me to achieve a near blissful sense of calm and tranquility. No worries about OrgoCorp. No worries about the Guardians. No worries about the Counters or Universal Church of Truth. Nothing.

Just a rare period of respite and complete Zen. Alas it only lasted for no less than a minute, before Thane ruined it.

"Looks like I jumped from one cult to another" he grumbled testily just under his breath. His word's may not have been loud enough for anyone else to hear, but I certainly did being as I was sitting right beside him.

I probably would have let it slide, but he continued to complain aloud. "Meditation doesn't work. And neither does the universe, solve your problems. Really wish cults would stop advocating such stuff." he continued bitterly.

"First off all this place isn't a cult. Secondly you are taking what Mantis is saying too literally" I whispered discreetly to him in an attempt to pacify him before he ended up ruining anyone else's zen like he did mine.

But my words had the opposite effect, because even with my eyes still closed, I could practically feel a frown forming on Thane's lips.

"Oh really?" He asked skeptically. "Then what's the right interpretation of her words? And also this place is definitely a cult"

Initially, I simply gritted my teeth and ignored him. Not wanting to fall for the obvious bait into an argument that this was. But I eventually couldn't hold my tongue any longer and had to reply.

"Look I get the church of Truth has traumatized you when it comes to spirituality or whatever, but not everything like this is a cult. All she's doing is advocating for acceptance of the natural fact of life. Bad thing's will always happen. Dwelling needlessly on it won't change anything. It's better to just focus on the here and now. And try to remain upbeat and optimistic"

"That's quite the interpretation. But you realize what you just described defeatism with extra steps right?" he quipped.

"No...it's more like a pragmatic form of indifference" I corrected lamely.

"Sure..." He replied in a mocking tone of voice.

Before, I could say anything else, I felt a presence suddenly loom above me. Instinctively I immediately opened my eyes to see Mantis peering down at the seated forms of Thane and I.

"Is there a problem?" She asked innocently.

Thane opened his mouth to say something, but I quickly jumped in to interjected.
"Everything is fine. " I assured her.

"Indeed, just some good natured philosophizing" Thane chimed in.

Mantis turned to focus on Thane, her attention now squarely to him. "I suppose that's fine, but maybe do that another time? And instead focus on meditation. You are after all the main reason I organized today's group meditation. To help keep you calm and prevent you from exploding"

Thanes' demeanor instantly became cold and hard, clearly annoyed by the fact that Mantis had brought up his predicament.

"Meditation doesn't work for me. I just need to let loose or cool. That's all" he said curtly.

Mantis, seemingly blind to her faux pas, cheerfully suggested "Well in that case if you wish to cool off, why not visit the water fall to west of here. It's quite refreshing. And it's bound help you unwind"

"Sure whatever, beats doing this I guess" he said bluntly before uncrossing his legs and getting back onto his feet. He then began to take long strides past the other still meditating aliens and out the door.

"Wait up" I called out after him, also springing to my feet to follow him. Just before leaving the meditation hut, I shot Mantis an apologetic look before slipping out after Thane.

I soon caught up to him walking across one of the many bridges, that linked the complex network of tree houses together.

"You didn't have to be so rude" I chastised him.

"And you don't have to shadow me all the time. I'm not going to explode just because you aren't around to stop me" he said in annoyance.

Clearly he was not happy with how I had taken to constantly following him around wherever he went. Partly to ensure that if he did explode I could at least fly him into the stratosphere and thus minimize casualties. And partly also because, he was technically still my prisoner and I was liable if he escaped.

I ignored his point and focused back on mine instead "Seriously what's your problem with Mantis? You've been nothing but rude to her, despite her being one of the nicest people I know."

"Gee, I wonder why I would be so defense whiles dealing with the female leader of a strange commune of suspiciously devoted aliens, with the ability to alter my mind telepathically, so that I carry out acts against my will. It's almost like I've had past experience or something " he replied sarcastically

"Oh...she reminds you of SuperGiant" I said in understanding. "That kind of makes sense, I guess, but like I said already this isn't a cult. And she's a good person"

"Whatever you say" he said dismissively, stopping at our destination.

I had been so engrossed in our bickering, that I hadn't noticed we had walked all the way to the waterfall Mantis mentioned. Like everything in Euphoria it was serene, with crystal clear blue water at the bottom, that rained down in a misty rush from the top. Overall it looked quite inviting.

I marveled at the sight for a moment then turned to ask Thane what he planned on doing here exactly. The words never got the chance to escape my lips as Thane's intentions became obvious.

"What are doing I?" asked dumbly as he began to take off his clothes.

"I'm going to take a soak so I can cool off." He said like this should have been obvious to me, which I guess it kind of should have.

To my horror though, instead of stripping down to his underwear, he shamelessly took off everything and strolled into waters completely naked.

Flustered, I quickly turned around to look away, feeling my cheeks burn for some unknown reason.

"Dude! A little warning next time" I stammered out nervously.

"Why? We're both guys here" he replied breezily, as I heard him splashing around the water.

I didn't have good answer for why his nudity bothered me, so I just let the matter go for now. After awhile though Thane said.

"So do you plan on just standing there with you back turned towards me the whole time?" He asked in a teasing voice.

"What if I begin to explode whiles you aren't looking" he continued.

I ignored him, even choosing to fold my arms as a sign of my resolve. He gave a short chuckle when he saw that. A sound instead of finding offensive, I found oddly pleasant and made me wish he laughed more.

"Seriously, come on in, the water in here is great" he encouraged.

I found myself surprisingly contemplating the suggestion and before I myself knew it, I too was stripping (though only down to my undergarments) and joining him in the water.

The water really was great. Very soothing and just the right temperature for unwinding and relaxing. We both quietly paddled around each other awhile, ignoring each other for the most part and just enjoying the sensation of being in the pool.

I don't know what prompted me do it, but I began to sing a raunchy Ravager song Kraglin taught me. Thane arched his eyebrow up at me in askance, but didn't move to stop me.

So I continued undeterred. After awhile, Thane began to sing along, apparently familiar with the lyrics or at least, had heard me sing enough of the song to know the chorus.

Neither of us where particular good singers. And we were definitely off key, but we belted it out to our hearts content. Occasionally stopping to laugh at a particularly dumb lyric or at each other's awful pitch.

At some point we stopped singing and just began to chat about everything and nothing. I told him about living with guardians and some off my adventures with them.

And he in turn told me a bit of what it was like being on the run. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we both choose humorous and light hearted tales. Avoiding the less than pleasant aspects of our lives.

The more we talked the more, I learnt about Thane as a person. He liked poetry and art. Specifically the gothic and eerie kind. He was an animal lover and his favorite food was F'saki. The last part made me make a mental note, never to leave my part F'saki Blurp with him. In turn for all that he had shared, I revealed my obsession with human culture, specifically it's philosophy and music.

We continued to trade stories and anecdotes about ourselves for hours, never needing to worry about our skin pruning due to our supernatural durability. I quickly grew to like Thane as a person, realizing he wasn't nearly as abrasive once you got to actually know him.

But eventually just as the twins suns of Euphoria began to descend down in to dusk, so to did our conversations began to wind down. When it became obvious it was time for us to head back. I made the first move to crawl out the water.

But when I tried to do so, a combination of my limbs falling asleep due to being in the water for so long and unstable footing, sent me flying backwards into the water, creating a huge splash in my wake.

"You did that on purpose", he accused me good naturedly, referring to the water that had primarily ended up drenching him.

In retaliation he splashed me with some water. And not to be undone I splashed water right back at him. Thus ensued a brief splash fight, that quickly devolved into playful wrestling (strictly above the waist touching though, cause I was still hyper conscious of his complete nudity).

Eventually, though we tuckered each other out, and we ended up breathlessly panting heavily, whiles staring intently at each other's face.

I found my eyes kept getting drawn to his lips for some reason. Like they were the most interesting things in the world. And if I had the wherewithal to notice it, I would have seen he was also doing similar..

"Have... you ever kissed someone?" I asked in a low voice reflexively licking my lips. I had no idea what prompted me to ask that particular question. But I genuinely wanted to know.

"No...have you?" He replied sounding almost bashful.

"My people don't really reproduce in the conventional sense, so there's no real point in us doing stuff like that" I admitted sheepishly.

"Well, maybe we should you...know...just to see how it feels" he said lamely.

"Yh..if that's what you...want" I answered nervously feeling my heart beat skyrocket dramatically.

"I mean, I wouldn't mind" he said trying to act indifferent, but I could tell he was just as nervous/eager as I was.

Slowly we began to close the short distance between our faces. Both us more eager than we would like to admit to.

Considering how much of a spur of the moment thing this was, it's funny in hindsight how much what happened next impacted our future. And the lives of many

Chapter Text

THANE

A gentleman never kisses and tells, but in this case I suppose an exception can be made. Describing a kiss as "fireworks going off" is a bit of cliche but it's honestly one of the only way's I can think off, to put the experience into words.

And frankly it's an apt description, not just metaphorically, but also literally. But I'm getting a bit ahead off myself. Let's focus on good part for now.

Our first official kiss was honestly nothing to write home about if I am to be completely upfront. It was just a quick and chaste peck on the lips, barely lasting a few seconds long, before we both pulled away flustered and embarrassed.

Clearly not enough to satisfy our "scientific curiosity", we pulled back in again for round two. Mutually determined to make it last a bit longer this time around.

We succeeded in that regard, but to the detriment of everything else. Our inexperience led us to kind of just plastering our lips together and staying there, perfectly still. Holding this awkward position for a few seconds.

We eventually pulled apart, once again thoroughly disappointed by the experience. We tried several more times after, each time only marginally better than the last.

We experimented with lot's of techniques. Tilting our heads to get a less awkward angle. Increasing and decreasing the force of our lips touching etc. But nothing really felt right. We were on the cusp of throwing in the towel and concluding with the notion that kissing just wasn't for us. The act was honestly just an extremely overrated and romanticized, phenomenon which boiled to exchanging saliva anyway.

But on the seventh try something just clicked. Maybe it's because we weren't over thinking it any more and finally just going with the flow now. Or maybe (and probably more likely) we accidentally just wore down each other's standards with our crappy make ou session before hand, so that when we subsequently achieved something above middling it seemed much better in comparison.

Either way, things got significantly better after the seventh try and we really started getting into the groove off things. I cannot speak for Adam, only myself, but it was around this time all the romantic cliches feelings started trooping in.

Butterflies in my stomach. Electric tingle down my spine. And of course the aforementioned fireworks.
But it was also around this time, I realized something was a smidge off. Again, my experience was limited, but even I could tell things were starting to feel..too good. Almost euphoric.

Not in sexual way, rather a more abstract and ethereal feeling of pleasure. It reminded me a lot of how the feeling of intoxication or "high" was described by some of my favorite poets.

An all consuming and addictive bliss, that even before it was gone I was already craving more.

I initially brushed this all aside. Chalking it up as merely the universe deciding to give us a break and refund us for the mediocre blandness of our earlier kisses. But inevitably I realized I was merely deceiving myself.

Something was definitely unnatural about how intensely good this felt. I begrudgingly broke the kiss first, by leaning back and opening my eyes. Immediately halting the inexplicable rush I had just been feeling.

I watched as Adam slowly blinked open his eyes and levelled a strangely drowsy but content gaze upon me.

"Wow...that was incredible" he purred at me with half lid eyes.

I had to force myself not to dwell on the ego boost that comment gave me and instead focus on the pressing matter. Why did Adam look weak all of a sudden?

"Hey? Are you alright?" I asked cautiously, already feeling myself come up with a sneaking suspicion for what had happened.

Adam gave a woozy and puzzled look. Like a drunkard waking up from their stupor.

"Yeah, yeah I'm great. Just a bit light headed" he admitted in a disoriented voice.

Frowning, I looked him over, seeing no real obvious sign of harm on him or any major change for that matter, aside from his warped demeanor.

Regardless though, I was concerned so without asking I scooped him into my arms bridal style and carried him back to shore.

I laid him down gently and began climb up as well but was interrupted when squeaked out abruptly
"Put some clothes on first, you Perv" he said looking pointedly away from me clearly flustered.

Rolling my eyes at this, I still complied and threw on some clothes before coming back over to him.

I continued my visual assessment of him, even switching my vision over to the world of souls, with it's gray hues and monochrome colors to check out his life force. He seemed alright. Still a vibrant gold as ever.

Maybe it wasn't me after all? I thought hopefully to myself. I was afraid I might have some how sapped part his life force away during our kiss.Something I didn't think I could do unless the person was dead or dying. But I couldn't know for sure could. I was constantly discovering new aspects of my abilities.

Like the universes worst, gift that keeps on giving.

And it would explain his wooziness and my weird feeling of bliss and enrichment.

Plus, there was already precedence for my powers doing weird things when it came to Adam. I still remembered how I had somehow managed to summon and dismiss his soul to me way back when in Sacrosanct.

I hadn't known what I was doing, I had just felt a sensation like Adam had been reaching out to me, so I decided to reach back out to him and I had ended up pulling him to me somehow.

I hadn't been able to replicate such a feat with anyone else, so it seemed like a unique case with just me and Adam. It probably had something to do with him giving me my spark to life back on OrgoCorp.

Whatever the case, it didn't seem like I had done anything to him this time. Maybe I just kissed the breath out of him somehow? Who knows, I'm just glad I hadn't done anything to hurt him. I couldn't bare the thought of hurting him again.

It might sound insane and sudden, but in our short time together, I have grown to deeply care for him.

Relieved that he was alright, I sat back down beside him and finally took a moment to take in our surrounding. Night had fallen completely, casting the area in serene darkness punctuated by the bright light from the large moon of Euphoria.

The waterfall looked even more idyllic and beautiful at night time. With the moon's light reflecting off of it and some small luminous insects buzzing about. We sat in comfortable silence as Adam eventually caught his breath and eventually we just enjoyed the tranquil environment.

We didn't talk about the kiss. Or how it clearly altered the dynamic between us. Instead just mellowed in the blissful aftermath of it.

"It's late" Adam finally said. "We should probably head back."

"Do we really have to?" I questioned with an exaggerated groan.

"Let's just sleep out in the open. It's nice and calm. Plus I'll even light us a fire" I continued snapping my fingers to conjure up a flame to prove my point.

"No, you just don't want to be around, Mantis." he chuckled knowingly
"Come on. Sometimes you have face your issues head on. Besides I'm hungry and I want to sleep on an actual bed" Adam said, rising to his feet.

But I didn't follow. I remained seated staring at the flame I had ignited. Staring at the proof of what I had feared I did to Adam.

Instead of the flame being the inky shade of black like it should be. Or even a natural fiery orange. It was a rich gold in color. Gold as vibrant as Adam's.

"What's the matter?" Adam questioned, seeing how serious my expression had become.

"I...I.." trailing off, unable to finish myself . What would I even say?
That I inadvertently turned what should have been a wonderful moment between the two us, into a sick parasitic act?

That I'm an uncontrollable leech who unlike you who bring's life and hope, all I do is take it.

"Is something wrong?" Adam asked again.

"No. Everything is fine" I lied.

Clenching my hand into a fist to snuff out the gold flame. Realeasing vibrant sparks as the main fire faded away. The sparks twinkled and sparkled briefly around us

Like fire works, in the night.

Chapter Text

ADAM

I really wish Thane would make up his mind on whether he was completely ignoring me all of a sudden, or actually being significantly nicer to me. Because the emotional whiplash brought on by his indecisive behavior was starting to really disorient the heck out of me.

Ever since we shared that kiss last night, all day he's been flip flopping when it comes to interacting with me.

One minute we are trading shy flirtatious glances at each other from across a room. The next, the bastard is avoiding me harder than your average despot avoids jail time. Then the cycle would loop back on itself and repeat, with him begrudgingly performing some honestly sweet act of kindness, only for it to be followed up by him acting unnecessarily curt and rude with me.

It was almost like his main desire was to force some distance between the two of us, but from time to time, he would forget to do that and would inevitably show his true feelings.

And I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he was doing this. All I know is that it started after we kissed but the exact reasoning for it was still mystery to me.
Maybe he didn't want to fraternize with the guy who might end of imprisoning him? Which is fair, though in my defense after getting to know him well, I now fully intend to fight for a shorten sentence for him. If not a full absolution, now that I knew the full story.

Regardless though, to say his recent actions were sending me incredibly mixed signals would be an understatement. I was already on the fence myself, about whether to pursue some sort of relationship with him despite the fact I was definitely developing feelings for him. And I knew those feeling were atleast somewhat mutual. But again, he was just being so weird about it all that we couldn't sort out our thoughts like the adults we were supposed to be.

Eventually though, I had enough and moved to confront him.

"Hey" I greeted cautiously as I walked up to him, as he tended to a small garden patch, filled with purple colored fruits.

Mantis' rehabilitation center prided itself on being a self sustained commune, so everyone had to help out in terms of farming and the likes. And I guess this was Thane's allotted area.

He paused what he was doing and looked over to me with a genuine beaming smile. But it was a flitting one, because he seemingly remembered himself and quickly adopted a cold closed off expression.

"Hey"; he replied in a neutral voice, pointedly looking back onto his work on the garden.

"Erm ..can we talk?" I asked, slowly moving over to stand by his side so he couldn't ignore me so easily.

He gave a nonchalant shrug in answer, which annoyed me a little, but I tamped down on my irritation and proceeded.

"Look, it's obvious you are trying to push me away for some reason, after our erm...moment at the waterfall. And I want to know why?" I demanded.

He continued to stare attentively at the vegetation he was working on, but he halted his movements.

"I'm not trying to push you away.." he began, but I interrupted he with an annoyed scoff and said angrily.

"Yes you are. Stop lying"

He paused for awhile before finally saying "Fine. I am pushing you away. Happy?" He admitted.

"Glad we can all agree on that, now explain why. I can't be that bad of a kisser" I said in jest trying to deescalate our now heightened moods with a lame joke.

He didn't laugh though, he just continued to stare intensely at the stupid garden.
"It's because all I ever bring is death and destruction" he muttered miserably.

I felt a wave of sympathy and understanding go through me.

"That's not true" I whispered back.
"Yes it is. Literally every thing I have cared about or put effort into dies or falls apart. Like these stupid plants" he said swiping in frustration at one of the plants in his garden.

Confused I finally paid closer attention to the look of the plants he was working on, only now realizing they all looked decrepid and rotten.

"First of all, the plants dying aren't a personal indictment of you. You are just bad at farming. Just as I am bad at reading social cues. Secondly your life experience has been admittedly quite terrible so far but, that hasn't been your fault. You've been a victim of circumstance more than an active causer of destruction and death. Thing's will get better. I promise"

I said resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. He didn't say anything for awhile before muttering softly
"You don't understand. It's more than just being in shitty situation. I'm a plague on life itself "

"You aren't a plague. And if I don't understand, well then explain it better " I declared firmly lowering myself down to his level so I could get comfort. I knew I couldn't solve all Thane's issues in one chat, but I was fully determined to try.

But we never got a chance to really get into it, because Mantis came running over to us frantically.

"Adam, Thane!." She exclaimed as she zoomed towards us.

"We have a situation" she said as she stopped just infront of us, trying to catch her breath.

"What's the matter?" I said feeling my heart beat spike in fear.

"A transmission finally came through. It's SuperGiant. She's broadcasting a looped message on all channels."
Mantis paused again to suck in some more air.

I felt Thane stiffen beside when he heard SuperGiant's name.

"What did she say" he asked coldly.

Mantis, looked up and gave us a grave look "Take a listen for yourself." She said producing a small device that immediately projected a small hologram image of SuperGiant.

"Denizen's of the galaxy. This is SuperGiant of the Universal Church of Truth. I come to you with a gift. I have squashed the so called heroes known us the Guardians of the Galaxy."

I felt my heart seize when she said, but I couldn't dwell on the possibility that other guardians might be captured or dead for too long, as she continued on saying.

"And with them gone, we can reestablish the glorious age we enjoyed during Thanos' snap. So now I give you all the option. Willingly cull fifty percent of your populace" she said, then paused for dramatic effect before adding

"Or I will happily do so for you"

With that hologram cut off. Stunned I and Thane, sat in shell shocked silence. Thane broke said silence, saying

"That wasn't a gift." Thane muttered. "That was fucking Ultimatum"

Chapter Text

SUPERGIANT

As I stood on a walkway overlooking the work going on below me, I couldn't help but wince and gently massage my aching temple. A pointless attempt at soothing the quickly growing migraine developing in my head.

The psychic strain of mentally enslaving so many minds was starting to take a toll on me. Especially now that I needed to keep constant supervision of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who were all constantly fighting and resisting my control over them, with all their might.

This is why I preferred to only compel those I had a pre-established rapport with or where inherently weak minded. It was significantly easier to do and I didn't need to pour so much effort into keeping them pliant and docile. The overall effort needed just to keep someone with half decent mental fortitude obedient was simply not worth it most of the time

But at the same time, how could I have possibly ignored the opportunity that presented itself on Sacrosanct, when I awoke to find everyone around me unconscious?

Everyone from the new Black Order, to my acolytes, to the repugnant ravagers and most notably the Guardians of the Galaxy, had been rendered unconscious by the stifling heat generated from Thane's near detonation.

I was fortunate enough to come to first, thus giving me first mover advantage. I initially toyed with the idea of killing the guardians and ravagers where they lay. Effectively wiping out one of the largest hindrance to my plans. But I eventually decided against it when I realized just how much of my acolytes had been killed during the skirmish.

Easily more than half my disciples had fallen during the skirmish. Not to mention many of those still alive but who had been greviously injured and would need time to recover, effectively making them useless to me.

With Thane presumably dead now, I couldn't afford to lose more minion's. So eventually I choose to use the opportunity to replace my dead acolytes with the very enemies that slayed them in the first place.

Not an easy task as I have already outlined, but it was working well so far. With the Guardians and Ravagers' now under my thrall, I made the decision to move my operations from the now unsecure Sacrosanct Cathedral to somewhere anyone left to oppose me would least expect. OrgoCorp.

It was large enough to comfortably house all my acolytes, both new and old. And it gave me access to a new potentially greater weapon than Thane ever was.

OrgoCorp may have been ransacked and reduced to a fraction of it's former glory, but it was still a mostly functional laboratory and research center. And more than capable of fulfilling my new plan.

My original plan, back when I had Thane around, involved slowly using him as a figure head to ramp up recruitment. And eventually amass a force strong enough to manually cull planets, just as my master Thanos had done during his warlord days.

But just like Thanos, I too now see the inherent ineffectiveness of such a slow mode of genocide. I needed a quicker way of culling the masses. Preferably one that couldn't be so easily undone like snap.

And the guardians had just inevitably provided me with that. OrgoCorp's infectious disease research.
With this research, I could craft a super plague capable of spreading through out the galaxy and doing exactly what I always wanted.

Wiping tens of trillions of the weak. And leaving only those strong enough to fight the infection. I had once suggested this plan to my master Thanos long ago, but he had shot it down saying the potential mutation of such a disease into an unstoppable death wave was too high. But now that I was in charge I would do just that.

And just to be on the safe side, I would create an vaccine. But only dispense it to those I personally deemed loyal or those who could afford to pay the exuberant price for it. Regardless though things would be like they were during the snap.

Bountiful. Freeing. And best of all blissfully quiet.

I have always hated the sounds of life both overt and subtle. From the bustle of movement, to the ruckus known as song or conversation. Even the thoughts of masses was too loud for me. Too chaotic and unfocused. Begging to be tamed and corralled into something sensible and orderly. And I could only do that if the population fell.

Invigorated by the prospect of returning to the way things had been during the snap, I gritted my teeth and thought too myself.

"I can do this".

I redoubled my efforts on compelling the hundreds of workers in hazmat suits carefully working away to create my plague. Including members of Guardians of Galaxy like Phylla Vell and Cosmo. With the rest of the Guardians busy patrolling OrgoCorp in order to keep it safe".

My renewed mental nudging prompted them all to work faster and more intensely. Making me conclude in delight that at this rate the plague would be complete in no time at all.

"Soon... thing's will be as they should. Soon the universe will be balanced" I couldn't help but mutter too myself in determination and excitement.

Chapter Text

THANE

"Why does it feel like I'm a character in a Terran sitcom program, about to meet their betrothed's family for the first time?" I couldn't help but ponder aloud as I watched a sleek space craft slowly go through the motions of descending and docking on an open field in Euphoria.

Puzzled, Adam turned away from also looking at said ship to stare at me instead.

"You watch Earth sitcoms?" He asked in surprise, completely ignoring the point of my original comment as well as seemingly forgetting the existence of the ship.

I shrugged nonchalantly before admitting as much, all the while still watching the ship in apprehension.

"They are mildly intriguing. Even if the conflict driving them, tends to be incredibly contrived most of time. " I began in reference to sitcoms before continuing on.

"Which ironically enough bring's me back to my original point. Why do I feel so nervous right now? I've already meet most of your family already. So I can't really hope to make any less of an impression than I already have"

Adam initially only pursed his lips in a tiny bemused smile at my whole rant. Before, in typical Adam fashion, retorting back by ignoring my main point and instead hyper focusing on an innocuous admission I had inevitably made.

"You called the Guardians my family" he said happily in a soft contemplative whisper, as if me stating the obvious was something noteworthy.

I obviously still didn't know Adam that well, but from the way he spoke about all the Guardians, he was clearly incredibly fond of them. So much so that even if they might not all share any DNA, they ultimately were the closets thing to a family he had.

Especially in lieu of his "mother" Ayesha's untimely death.

Regardless though, I couldn't help but roll my eyes in mild annoyance, finally realizing I wasn't going to get much useful support from Adam if he kept at this.

"Forget it" I muttered with a sigh, resulting to trying to steel my nerves on my own. I trained my eyes back on the ship watching the door's beginning to hiss open.

"Hey. I'm sorry if it comes across like I'm ignoring your concern. I just find it neat, how I'm still learning new things about you, yet you seem to get me so well." Adam said sincerely wrapping a comforting hand around my limp left hand.

"As for the Guardians not liking you. I'm sure there's bound to be some hostility at first, that's just unavoidable, but we'll deal with that together" He continued, puncturing his declaration with a reassuring squeeze of my hand.

I instantly felt much better and smiled softly at him in appreciation for the support. Together we turned back to the ship from before and watched the bay door's open. One by one the original members of the guardians of the Galaxy slowly down descended down.

First off the ship was a hulking tree alien and small furred creature riding atop it.
"That's Rocket and Groot." Adam whispered unnecessarily to me. I already knew who all the original guardians were from news reports, but I still appreciated the intent behind Adams act.

Next came a pale skin Terran male, dressed in the trademark blue Guardians of the Galaxy jumpsuit, who confidently swaggered off the ship and towards us. "That's Starlord, Peter Quill." Adam continued.

The final member to descend was none other than Drax. This time Adam didn't bother to introduce him, as he knew we had already met. He looked remarkably fine despite the fact the last I saw off him, I had left him heavily burnt and charred. Although his blue skin looked more greenish now due to undergoing several reconstructive skin grafts. And his muted red tattoos from before where now significantly more vibrant.

Immediately he was off the ship, he levelled a dirty look at me causing me to immediately tense up and contemplate backing away. "It's okay, I've explained everything to him. He won't do anything to you...I hope" Adam said aloud in an attempt to soothe me.

Despite this, I still reflexively swallowed a nervous lump that had manifested in my throat and tried to look as nonthreatening as possible.
"I hope so too " I muttered, remembering the savage beat down Drax had given me, way back at Sakaar.

The quartet sauntered over to us and nodded their heads in greeting upon arriving.

"Hey kid. How ya doing?" The racoon, Rocket asked Adam softly.

Adam opened and closed his mouth, as if struggling to find the right words before finally simply saying
"I've been better"

"Yeah, haven't we all" the Terran, Starlord remarked solemnly in agreement. They all shared a look among themselves and even without them saying, I instinctively knew they wished they were meeting under better circumstances. Not like right now, where two thirds of their crew was missing and unaccounted for. Possibly even dead. And the Galaxy as a whole was once again teetering on the edge of another cosmic scale genocide.

"Where's Mantis?" Drax asked suddenly, not really addressing anyone in particular as he looked around for the woman in question.

"Here" she exclaimed rushing towards us from up the stairs leading to the settlement area of Euphoria. Without hesitation she squealed and leaped into a bear hug with Drax, causing the large man to burst into a hearty laugh and twirl her around.

"I've missed you" she happily to Drax. "I've missed all of you" she continued, addressing the other's as she pulled out of her hug with Drax.

"We've missed ya too" Rocket said. With the flora colossus Groot chiming in with an accenting "I am Groot"

"We should all catch up after this. I've apparently missed a lot. Such as you and Nebula" Mantis said with teasing tone and meaningful look at Starlord.

The pale Terran blushed slightly, and became all flustered and bashful. "Oh yeah, me and Nebula just sort of happened, you know? I think seeing Gamora chumming it up with that Nova guy, was the kick I needed to move on. And I don't think it's my usual thing of lily padding from women to women. Thing's with Nebula feel... different. More serious " he said.

Rocket scowled good naturedly and said "I really ought to institute a no dating within the guardians rule."

Everyone chuckled lightly at that, and before I knew it the old Guardians' were bantering among themselves like old friends as they walked back up to the settlement.

It seemed ,for now at least, I was being completely ignored in favor of them catching up. Which I was perfectly fine with. But it was still incredibly surreal to be in the presence of living legends like the old guardians. The new guardians consisting mostly of Adam's generation, where indeed highly respected for their acts.
But the old guardians where respected on a whole other level, to the point where even I felt slightly in awe by them.

When SuperGiant's ultimatum referenced crushing the Guardians' of the Galaxy it was pretty obvious she was referring to the one's who were on Sacrosanct not the old one's. With the possible exception of my sister's Nebula and Gamora who I guess also constituted the old guardians.

Regardless though after receiving SuperGiant's ultimatum we had moved fairly quickly to verify the old Guardians' were safe. With Mantis reaching out to contact the remaining guardians who we knew or thought might be alright. And from there we organized a met up with them here on Euphoria to hash out a plan of action.

The old guardians continued their reminiscing and chatter till we reached Mantis office and together we all trooped into the spacious area. Their conversation slowly winded down till it became obvious that the mood had changed from a bittersweet one to a decidedly more grim and serious one.

"Okay, enough chitchat, let's share what we know about this SuperGiant character" Rocket started immediately taking charge.

Adam stepped up and explained everything we knew so far about her. How SuperGiant was a former Thanos acolyte turned cult leader. The events at Sacrosanct and the apparent defeat of the new guardians.

Drax looked positively livid at the part about me nearly killing everyone at Sacrosanct, likely recalling how a similar detonation by me, greatly maimed him, but he thankfully did not strike me down. Even though my action nearly put everyone he cared about including his new adopted daughter Phylla Vell in mortal danger.

Adam also looked especially remorseful about the affair at Sacrosanct. I got the feeling he felt uniquely responsible because he had effectively been the one to gullibly lead the new guardians into a trap, but Rocket gave him a reassuring look that seemed to appease him for the time being.

After Adams' recap, Rocket took over once more.
"Well the good news is I can safely say, that at worse, the other Guardians have only been captured"

Surprised but relieved, Mantis asked how he knew for sure.

"I installed a built in health monitor and tracking system in all the Guardian suits. And so far everyone's system still reports them as alive and well." Rocket explained.

"And we even know where they are. OrgoCorp HQ" Starlord chimed in.

Stunned Adam and I, shared a weighted look.

"Any idea on what they are doing there?" Adam asked leading to Rocket shaking his head to convey a negative.

"Best we can tell is that a large contingent of unknown agents raided the OrgoScope a few days ago and have set up shop there. The place has been radio silent to the rest of the outside world ever since" Rocket continued.

"If we know where they are, why don't we just muster up an army and take the place back? We've all got a ton of allies who would be more than willing to help. Like those Terran Avengers or something" Drax asked.

"No, that would be unwise, the new guardians are likely being held as hostages. And SuperGiant would definitely not be afraid to harm them if she feels threatened by a full on assault" I said.

Drax sucked his teeth in annoyance and said "So what? We just leave them to launch an attack?" glaring daggers at me as he spoke.

"That's obviously not what Thane meant. He just means we need to be be more tactical about this" Adam said in my defense.

"Yeah. We send in a small team of just us. Free our guy's and take out the bad guys. Just like we used" Starlord said.

Everyone else nodded in agreement with this. Including Drax begrudgingly.
"We even have a plan that might just work. But it heavily relies on you Thane" Rocket said staring pointedly at me.

"Me?" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes you. It's dangerous. Especially if thing's go awry. But if you help us, we guarantee that you'll be absolved off all your past misdeeds and we'll get the protected status you wanted for yourself and the other counters.

"So what do you say?"

They all turned to quietly look at me expectantly. Not wanting to rush in I took a moment to think it over, marvelling at what strange turn off events my life had taken so far. From being hunted by the Guardians. To possibly teaming up with them.

"I'll do it" I eventually said, much to the relief and delight of the other guardians with the exception of Drax. Who at this point I figured just hated my guts.

"So what's the plan" I asked eager to set thing's in motion.

Chapter Text

SUPERGIANT

"Is this real?" I ask dumbly, staring at the irrefutable evidence before me. The acolyte tasked with manning the security camera's of the OrgoScope, simply nodded in answer. Even going as far as to further zoom in and sharpen the footage for my benefit.

"The bastard really can't die. At least not for long anyway" I couldn't help but mutter aloud in awe, staring at the live feed of someone who I had thought (and frankly also hoped) had died during the skirmish at Sacrosanct.

But there was Thane, alive and well. Floating out in the cold vastness of open space without any real form of life support. His only form of protection and propulsion coming from a shroud of blazing gold flames, he was projecting around himself.

The fact he was still alive honestly should not have come as too great a surprise to me. I already knew of his esoteric ability to be empowered by the death of other's. But I didn't know his power extended to borderline immortality. Last I saw of him, he was on the verge of exploding himself and taking along the equivalent of a small town's worth of people and things. Yet now here he was. Fine and dandy, practically knocking on my doors, begging for my attention.

But coming here to court my attention to do what exactly? We hadn't ended thing's on the best notes. So maybe he was here for revenge. And if that was the case, I was too overtaxed mentally already to simply compel him into becoming another of my subservient thralls again.

"Should I open fire upon him?" the acolyte asked, already moving his hands to the control panel of the OrgoScope exterior defense system. Eager to unleash the incredible and nigh impregnable defenses of the OrgoScope.

This particular acolyte was one of the few who were fully in the know and cognizant about everything going on around here. Including my fall out with Thane. All the other acolytes simply thought that, just like Thane's father before him, Thane had died a noble death in pursuit of universal balance.

He was martyr to them and for a time that had been useful. But now that he was here, his presence threatened to usurp the fragile control I held over the remaining acolytes. So much of the psychic power needed to keep the unruly guardians and ravagers' in check, meant that it naturally necessitated I loosen my psychic grip on the usually more compliant acolytes. And doing so was already revealing the first signs of discontent and uncertainty among them.

With the only thing keeping them firmly compliant being my new unwilling allies Nebula and Gamora. Their status as daughters of Thanos learnt me some much needed credibility as Thanos new successor. But even that too was starting to wane.

"No" I finally said firmly in answer to killing Thane. "He's more useful to me alive. Besides, he would likely just come back from that, alive and well. With renewed anger towards us".

The acolyte nodded in understanding but asked "So what do we do? Eventually someone is bound to notice him just floating out there. He's been there for close to ten minutes already"

I tsked in annoyance at hearing how long he's just been creepily lurking out there. "The fact he hasn't started blindingly attacking leads me to think he wants something. Let's find out what. Open a desolate landing bay, away from everyone else. So he can enter through that. And do something else for me".

I said, whiles explaining my special request. The acolyte complied and I made my way down to meet him.

By the time I arrived he was already in the barren landing bay waiting. Our fraught meeting was accentuated by wispy dry ice like vapors, swirling around us. Adding to the overall intense atmosphere. Seeing him up close again, he didn't look all that different.

He carried himself with a bit more confidence but he was still the scared and weary boy I found all those months ago. I stopped just short of reaching him and looked down at him. His six foot frame barely reaching the midriff of my own ten foot figure.

"You came alone" he noted aloud immediately.

"So did you" I countered.

We silently sized each other up after that. Both of us trying to discern the others motive with just our eyes.

Eventually though I grew tired of this and bluntly asked "What do you want?"

He paused momentarily before answering "I want in. Back into the fold. All that jazz"

"I don't believe you" I reply, slowly beginning to pace around him in circles.

"It's the truth.You've successfully squashed the guardians and ravagers. Meaning there's no one really there to oppose you. You've presumably found some way of wiping out half of all life in the galaxy. Heck you even still have most of my fellow Counters on your side. I know a winning side when I see one. And for once I would like to be on that side" Thane said.

"I tried to kill you" I stated bluntly

Thane simply shrugged nonchalantly and said "Water under the bridge. Remember I also tried to do same"

I chuckled and shook my head in bemusement
"You I know I would be more inclined to believe you, if it wasn't so obvious you are only trying to worm your way back in just so you can sabotage me from within"

"You probably want to know what weapon I have cooked up that can wipe out half of all life in the galaxy. Then once you know you'll disarm it somehow, removing one of my biggest leverage. Am I right?"

"I told you, I..." He began but I cut him off by continuing my own spiel.

"..Then you would defeat me and rescue all those guardians and ravagers' I have under my control. Maybe even save your fellow Counters. Then from there you ride off into the sunset with a now very grateful and indebted galaxy . Am I right?"

Thane didn't reply this time, but I could tell by the clenching and twitching of his jaw I was right on the money.

I chuckled once again. "You know I'm sure it took you a lot of time to come up with this asinine plan. So let me humor you a little by giving you a ran down of what's actually going to happen. The weapon I'm going to use to balance the universe, is called a terrigen bomb. A nasty little thing created by the Kree long ago which I've further augmented for peak lethality. It releases a highly contagious viral mist in the air. A mist that kills those too weak to withstand it. But it has a peculiar effect on Counters. For your kind it encases you in a nigh unbreakable amber. And the best part about it is, that I've been funneling it through this area for the past five minutes"

Thane eye's widened when realization of what I said dawned on him. His eyes darted around him, finally taking in the fact that the benign swirling dry ice like vapors around him was in fact, concentrated terrigen mist.

He began to move as if to flee but he didn't get very far. Soon cluttering to ground in pain and gasping for air.

Thick honey colored sap began to profusely ooze out from the pores of his skin, and rapidly harden.

"I discovered this phenomenon completely by accident whiles dealing with your Black Order." I continued unfazed by his current plight. " I had sensed they still held loyalty towards you, so I figured I might as well get rid of them whiles testing out the potency of my terrigen mist. Anyway, I released it upon them and exactly the same thing that's happening to you now happened to them. In their delirium they even described the sensation to me. And you know what they told me? They described it as excruciating. Like every cell in your body exploding and crystals sprouting from it..."

I paused to take in the sight of him writhing sluggishly around in pain quickly becoming immobile in the amber.

"I hope it's true... I hope it hurts. Maybe then you would know the fraction of the pain you've cause me. I wish I could just outright kill you. But I suppose this will have to do"

I concluded, as the last dollop of amber poured of Thane's mouth completing the process of sealing him in the amber. All the amber goop had meshed into one solid incredibly dense and hard mass. That molded around him to form a coffin like structure, in terms length and width. It was also completely see through although tinted honey yellow.

I took a minute to appreciate my handiwork even taking in a large lungful of the still terrigen infused air. As if to mock him with the fact I was completely immune to it's effect due to having already taken the vaccine for it.
Eventually I grew tired off silently gloating and turned on my heels to leave. Making a mental note to send in some trust worthy acolytes to move Thane's frozen but ultimately still alive body to my office, once the air here was safe for them to enter into.

I left, feeling certain I had won. All the while, due to my hubris, I was oblivious to my major blunder. I was wrong about Thane's plan.

It was indeed too stupid and obvious a plot for him to try and rejoin me. Thane wasn't here to infiltrate my organization. He was here as a living Trojan device to disrupt the nigh impenetrable facility of OrgoCorp. And I had played right into his hand.

Chapter Text

ADAM

As I stood tensely hunched over a bathroom sink, I scooped up some water and splashed it onto my face, in a futile attempt to calm my nerves and regain my composure.

I quietly observed the aftermath of this, by looking into the mirror directly adjacent to me and above the sink. I watched the rivulets of water slowly run down the planes of my face like tears running down my cheek.

An unintentional fitting look, to match my internal feeling of misery and apprehension. The cause of my worry was none other than Thane, though this time it was through no real fault of his.

We hadn't heard back from him in over an hour now, ever since he first made his way inside of the OrgoScope. I knew on a pragmatic level that he was probably fine and if anything did happen he could more than handle himself.

But still, not knowing whether he was okay or not, was turning me into a nervous wreck. It's honestly insane how much I cared for a guy who I truthfully still barely knew. Maybe Rocket was onto something about the whole "No dating within the team" comment.

My romantic feelings for him were definitely clouding my better judgement and dialing up my emotions. But in general this entire mission had me on edge. It would be no exaggeration for me to say this might very well be the most important mission yet of my short Guardians' career. Not only are my immediate friends and loved one's at great risk. But half the entire galaxy is as well. There's simply no way not to feel the pressure for this regardless of the fact I've been on other high stress missions before.

Hence why I was currently locked up in the bathroom of 'Prince' the new space cruiser the Old Guardians' and myself were currently in. Trying to wrestle back some of my calm and resolve.

I took a couple of deep breathes, forcing myself to feel centred before finally drying off my face and exiting the bathroom. I quickly made my way through the narrow corridors of the ' Prince' and into the command centre where all the other Guardians were gathered.

The atmosphere here was equally tense, with all the Guardians here busy doing something. Be it intensely scrutinizing a holographic projection of the OrgoScope schematic like Starlord and Rocket. Or other's like Drax and Mantis, checking and rechecking their weapons and gear.

We were all just waiting impatiently for the device Thane had snuck into the OrgoScope to finish hacking into the security system so we could enter undetected. But it was taking longer than expected.

It was still apparently working, just that something was causing the signal to be incredibly slow.
"Almost like Thane dropped the device into a bucket of jello or something" Rocket explained.

Whatever was causing the issue though, after over an hour of waiting on tenterhooks it was finally near complete. Maybe about five minutes more at maximum.

I made my way over to stand beside Rocket and Starlord joining them as they perused the schematic. By now, we already knew the layout of the OrgoScope back to front, so they were mostly just doing this as a precaution.

When I arrived, I must have had quite the look on my face, because Starlord stopped mid sentence and sent me a sympathetic look. "Hey" he said as placed a comforting hand ony shoulder.
"Everything is going to be all right."

I nodded lamely not really entirely sure I believed him even though I wanted to. "Yeah kid, relax. If anyone here should be this worried it should Quill over here. He's the one who has the save his ex, his exes' new cop boyfriend and his ex's sister, who just so happens to be his current girlfriend "

Rocket chimed in a teasing tone. I couldn't help but chuckle at the way he described the situation, feeling slightly better about my own less complicated predicament.

The good mood quickly evaporated though, when the computer in front of us chirped and flashed green. Signifying that the hack was complete. Rocket quickly tapped and swiped away at the holographic projection for a few seconds to confirm that aside from the drawn out waiting period the hack was successful.

"Okay. It's time. You all know what do" Rocket said to everyone in a distinctly more serious tone.

Inadvertently bringing back all my fear and anxiety from before. But I managed to squash it down for now and put a brave face on. We all rushed to our station's on the ship and prepared to board the OrgoScope.

Starlord and Rocket skillfully piloted the ship over to the OrgoScope making no real attempt to hide our approach since the security camera's and exterior gun should all be offline or under our control now.

'Prince' purred to a halt, mere inches away from what according to the OrgoScope facility schematics should be the control room. Without hesitation Drax maneuvered the 'Prince's' plasma guns so that they faced the fleshy exterior walls and opened fired into them. If not vacuum of space, this would have undoubtedly resulted in a loud boom, but fortunately it did not.

It took a few consecutive blasts, but in no time at all a sizeable hole was formed and from it out came many red robed clad cultists spilling out into open space.Sucked out by the sudden depressurization due to losing the wall. The half a dozen or so cultists quickly died from being out there with no life support.

Eventually though a peach colored vacuum seal membrane was produced by the OrgoScope to stem the breach, seal the hole and reestablish equilibrium.

We all got out of the ship and space walked over to the newly formed membrane.
The membrane was built to be malleable but not all that durable, so we were easily able to push our way through it and enter inside.

Despite the chaos that should have been brought about from breaching the facility walls like that, the place was remarkable silent and normal. A testament to how complete our control was over the OrgoScope security systems.

Quill quickly parked himself over the now abandoned control seat and began to sift through footage of OrgoScope. The rest of us smoothly secured our immediate perimeter.

"Fuck" Quill muttered suddenly staring intently at the screen before him which was displaying something. Curious I and the others moved over to see what had him shook. I saw what looked like Thane, but he was for some reason encased in some sort of slab of amber and being wheeled somewhere by a pair of red robed cultists.

I felt myself tense up upon seeing this but I once again forced myself to stay calm. "The fact they are moving him like this probably means he's not dead just captured" Mantis assured me. Not exactly ideal but certainly preferable to death.

Quill continued to scan the footage, obviously trying the assess the total number of enemies and hostages we were dealing with.

"Okay. The way I see it we have three objectives right now. Free Thane, release anyone that SuperGiant is mind controlling and find the super weapon" Rocket began quickly taking stock of the situation.

"Don't forget we need to take out the cultist roaming around as well " Starlord added.

"Okay four things" Rocket corrected himself. "So here's how we are going to do it. Quill stay here and monitor everything you see here and relay it to the rest of us via comms. Drax go around and take out as many cultist as you can. Mantis, you are the closest thing we have to telepath so you'll obviously have to be the one to take on SuperGiant and free our friends. Adam go and rescue Thane. I'll look for the Super weapon and try and disarm it."

Everyone nodded in understanding and begun to leave before Rocket added in one more thing.
"Also remember to be stealthy about all of this. We still have the element of surprise and I would like to keep it that"

"I'm afraid that shan't be the case" said a new voice causing all of us to startle and turn to the source of it. Standing in door way, in all her towering menace was SuperGiant and beside her the entranced Cosmo.

A flurry of thoughts crossed my mind. Chief among them being how did she know we were here?
But all I get out was a crass exclamation of "Shit!", before Cosmo suddenly barked and released a telekinetic shockwave so intense and potent it sent us all violently flying backwards.

Right through the membrane and out into the yawning abyss of space and possibly to our deaths

Chapter Text

SUPERGIANT

I had stumbled upon the infiltrating Guardians completely on accident. There had been no spontaneous feeling of unease or an acute intuitive feeling that something was amiss on my part . As maddening as it is for me to admit this, it was just pure dumb luck.

At the time I was completely secure in the notion that I had successfully foiled the Guardians plan to take me down. So much so, that I had confidently decided to loosen my telepathic grip on most of the unruly characters I held captive. Not enough to give any of them back their autonomy, but just enough to let their baser and more simple instincts creep out independently, where once they were overwhelmingly suppressed by me.

This lead to a noticeable change in their attitudes, with this being most apparent in the space dog Cosmo. The telekinetic canine craved a walk, having grown frustrated at being cooped up in mostly one cramp space for so long. Ordinarily I would have ignored this, but I was in a good mood over my apparent victory over my enemies, so I decided to give the dog what it wanted by personally walking her through out the OrgoScope.

And it was during this walk that I happened upon the Guardians, just as I was rounding a corner into the control centre. They were deeply engrossed in watching something on the monitors so they initially did not catch on to my presence. But I was fully aware of them, and for my part I was initially beyond shocked when I came upon them. But I quickly recovered and once again tightened my psychic grip over all those under my thrall, including Cosmo.

I took a minute to assess the situation, exploiting the fact that they were still unaware of my presence as at then. I took note of thing's like the absent guards, the blown open wall and most worrying of all, the lack of blaring alarm. This, I rightly concluded, likely meant they had compromised the security system somehow. And considering how close in time their infiltration here occured in relation to Thane's spontaneous arrival, it did not take me long come to the conclusion he was involved somehow.

When I felt I knew enough, I had Cosmo blast the four, right back out into space through the breach they themselves had made. I felt Cosmo subconsciously resist furiously against doing this, but I forced her to comply anyway.

The Guardians didn't even have enough time to articulate a sentence, let alone put on the helmets of their space suits before they were sent careening back into open space and surely to their death. I walked over to the membrane and peered out at them floating around out there gasping and gagging in silence. 'Crisis averted I thought.' But oh how wrong I was.

ADAM

The cold vacuum of space held no real threat to me. I was a perfect being after all. Made to withstand some of the most extreme climates the universe has to offer. Not even the lack of oxygen here was a problem for me, as I could comfortably hold my breath for hours on end.
However, I can't say the same for the other Guardians with me.

Mantis, Starlord and Drax were all quickly beginning to show signs of hypoxia. With ice fractals forming across their body from the cold and their limbs beginning to swell and bloat. It was a small miracle they hadn't already died from their lungs abruptly deflating due to the rapid depressurization.

Ordinarily I could just fly around and carry them back to safety like I did to Starlord not too long ago when a similar thing happen. But even though I hadn't been harmed by being thrown into the space abruptly, the knock itself had definitely left an impact.

Cosmo is easily one of the most powerful member's of my team with her undisputed mastery over all things thanks to her telekinesis. Her telekinetic grip was legendary having once held together two massive structures the size of KnowWhere. It was often only a result of her good nature and restraint that she didn't go around crushing all our foe's in one go with a single thought. But under the control of SuperGiant she had no such restraint, and thus the telekinetic shove she had used to send us out had been ridiculously potent.

And being that I was closest to the epicenter of the telekinetic wave, I ended up taking the bulk of the pure concussive force.

The attack easily knocked the wind right out of me and left me reeling so bad, that I needed several minutes to recover. Minutes I did not have to spare if I wanted to save the rest of my teammates.

Fortunately, though Groot stepped in just in time to save them. He had been left behind to man the Prince on account of the fact that his large hulking form wasn't exactly the best for stealth and infiltration.

His bulky form however did not impede his piloting skill, as he managed smoothly fly over to our rescue by opening the ship's hangar door's and scooping us back in.

We landed roughly back into ship with the other's quickly gulping in some much needed oxygen and beginning the process of recuperation. They would likely live and make a full recovery, but the experience definitely left them out of commission for the foreseeable future.

Meaning even before the operation to take OrgoCorp truly begun, the team had been whittled down to just me and Groot.

Needing to act fast though, before SuperGiant had Cosmo attack as again. I forced myself to shake off my disorientation and climb back onto my feet. Then I grabbed a couple of med packs and strapped them onto the others, in the hopes of expediting the healing process for them. I then stumbled as fast as I could to the ship's cockpit.

Groot was predictably there, stretching himself thin (literally, he was extending smaller and leaner branches out from himself) in order to pilot the ship and stay out of range of Cosmo telekinetic reach.

I choked out a thank you, for him saving our lives and settled into a seat to finish catching my breath. I briefly contemplated opening fire upon the OrgoScope and forgoing the subtly and subterfuge now that we were basically exposed. But I eventually decided against this, rightly concluding that blindly blasting at the facility would endanger hostages as much as hostiles.

For a moment I sat helplessly there, wondering what I could possibly do in such a hopeless situation. If we retreated now, there's no telling what SuperGiant would do whiles we regrouped. Plus, we had squandered our only real asset here, that being the element of surprise. So even if we came back in full force she would be expecting us.

But there really didn't seem to be any other option, aside maybe, trying to take her on now, with only Groot as my ally.

I felt so overwhelmed and frustrated by my current situation that I didn't even know whether to yell, cry or both. 'We failed' I thought miserably to myself. The universe is as good as already halved if we don't do something now or at least very soon. I got so caught up in beating myself up that I began to reminisce as to how things got to this point. From my discovery of the High Evolutionary's secret lab till now.

It was during this that I remembered something. Something so innocuous and honestly kind of random I legitimately forgot all about it. But remembering it led me to begin to spawn an outlandish plan. Something that just might work.

THANE

Everything hurt. From my fingers to my toes, down to the very cells in every part of my body. A great unrelenting pain that felt like being burnt by a thousand fires and being doused in freezing ice in equal measure.

And the worst part of it all was that I couldn't do anything about it. I was frozen and completely immobile. Fully conscious and able to see the immediate world around me through my clear amber prison, but ultimately detached and incapable of interacting with it.

I had been moved to what looked like an office by a bunch of cultist after I fully froze up. And I was left there unguarded and unattended, not like it matters if I wasn't, I couldn't even blink to close my eyes let alone hope of breaking out of here.

My powers, which used to always bubble and simmer just at the surface of my being, waiting to spring out, where stuck, just as immobile as the rest of me. The only part of me truly free was my mind. So I retreated into it, in a vain attempt at distracting myself from the unbearable pain that was currently my reality.

I tried to think positive thoughts like Mantis always encouraged. So I began to envision that Adam and his Guardian compatriots, would come swooping in to my rescue any second from now. Me getting captured definitely wasn't part of the plan. But we hadn't been naive enough to think the plan wouldn't have hiccups, but none of us had exactly accounted for this turn of events.

Still I hoped, and prayed and just generally longed for the unbearable pain to stop. But it didn't. It had become all I knew and my attempts at remaining hopeful weren't enough to distract me from my predicament.

As was usual for me, I begin to fall into a pit of despair, even yearning for instant death so the immediate pain would end.

It was then, at my lowest point, did I finally become conscious of a sudden change. A new sensation aside from pain. It was miniscule compared to the pain, but the mere fact it was something other than all consuming agony made it stand out even more in sharp contrast.

Not to mention it was a familiar sensation. It took my pain muddled mind sometime to figure out what this familiar sensation was but eventually I did.

It was Adam. Or more specifically the feeling I always got whenever Adam used that strange rod device to search out energy similar to his. It was what he had used to track the Counters and I across the galaxy.
Except it was more than that. It opened a channel between the two of us. A two way street. He could sense me and I could sense him. And with my powers I could even take it a step further.

Reflexively I reached out with my powers. Straining with all my might to do something I used to be able to do semi casually when not frozen. It took longer than usual but eventually I clasped onto the astral version of Adam and dragged him over.

He flickered in and out of reality like a bad gold colored hologram, but at least he was there. "Oh good it's working, I wasn't super sure we could astral talk like last time" he began when he fully manifested. For awhile he just kind of floated in front of my physical form taking in my current state but eventually he spoke.

"Thane...what did she do to you?" He asked softly.
I couldn't answer, frozen as I was, and realizing that, Adam paused again, before eventually speaking up once more.

"I guess I'll be doing most of the talking here then. Thing's aren't great right now, though I guess I don't really need to be telling you that. Most of the Guardians are out of commission. We've lost the element of surprise. And you've been..." He trailed off, clearly not sure how describe my situation.

"I still think there's a way for us to win this. But it all comes down to you. Thane, you are more powerful than you think. You could end this all by yourself. You could escape out of your confines, scorch all the baddies and save the hostages all by yourself. The problem is you are afraid of your ability. But you shouldn't be. I understand you are afraid of losing control and hurting others. Or maybe you are afraid of becoming the weapon you were made to be. Just like you I was made to be a weapon, but I chose to be more than that. And so can you"

He stopped to take in my reaction, which wasn't exactly much as I still couldn't exactly emote whiles encased in amber like this. But if I could, I honestly would be standoffish and closed off. I've already heard some version of this speech before from Mantis. Simply saying "Rise Above" doesn't change the nature of my existence. I am a literal life parasite, you can't exactly spin that in any positive way, can you?

As if hearing my thoughts though, Adam continued "I know you siphoned some of my power during our first kiss" I stiffened upon hearing this, shocked that he figured it out.

"I didn't know for sure back then, but just now, when I scanned for your presence, I noticed much more of my energy now emanates from you than before. I don't resent you for that, but I know you resent yourself for it though. That's why you were keeping me at arms length after the kiss. I won't lie and say that isn't a bit weird, but I know you didn't do it intentionally and at the end of the day I'm completely fine."

He paused before continuing again "Look, what I'm trying to say in my round about and messy way is that...I love you and I wish you could love yourself as much as I do...Which saying that out loud now, I know sounds incredibly corny and also kind of sudden since we barely know each other, but it's the truth. I can't save you. Only you can. And in the process you could save not just yourself, but this entire ungrateful galaxy."

He looked like he was about to continue on but his visage suddenly cut off and disappeared inexplicably. It was so sudden and abrupt, I knew it could only be as a result of something in the physical world forcing him to let go off the staff. Meaning he was probably in immediate danger.

He had left me with a lot think about and not much time to do so, but in my heart's of hearts I knew he was right. Like it or not I was the last hope of the galaxy right now. I was still brimming with power absorbed from the battle at Sacrosanct which I never fully released. As well as Adam's own energy compounded on top of that. If I could expel all those energies together in one concise uniform blast, I could surely burst out of this and maybe wipe out all our foes. I would just need to make sure not to harm the hostages in process.

It was big ask. But I had to try. Or the Galaxy was as good as doomed.

Chapter Text

ADAM

The astral connection between Thane and I was cut off abruptly when a sudden jolt made me lose my grip on the staff and drop it. Momentarily disoriented by the sudden disconnection, it took me a second to realize what was going on and causing all this ruckus. But eventually I did and it was not good.

The entire ship was shaking violently, with Groot desperately trying to keep it steady. It was apparent by the looks of it that Cosmo's telekinetic grip had finally sunk it's claws on as and was actively trying draw as closer to the OrgoScope. Like a tractor beam pulling in an unwilling abductee.

But Groot wasn't going to take this lying down though as he gunned the ship's thrusters and ferociously tried to escape the pull, leading to vicious tug of war that threatened to tear the entire ship apart.

"Groot stop!" I ordered, "You have to allow her to pull us in or risk tearing the entire ship apart by resisting " I explained.

The flora colossus gave me in an unhappy look but begrudgingly complied, halting his resistance so we could be dragged back over to the OrgoScope safely.

"I am Groot" he said looking expectantly at me, with his surprisingly emotive tree bark face. I still wasn't the best at understanding him, but context clues alone told me he was basically asking "What now?".

Briefly casting my eyes over to a set of monitors near by, showing the other guardians still incapacitated in the lower deck. I decided we needed to act. I was still holding out hope that my words would be enough to get Thane to help out somehow, but for now I needed to take my own advice and save myself. Resolutely I turned to Groot and said.
"It's down to only us buddy. Now..we fight"

Turning to face our quickly approaching fates head on.

SUPERGIANT

With guidance from me, Cosmo slowly reeled in the guardians ship. Inching it closer and closer to us. I had briefly contemplated having her simply crush the entire ship from a far, but I eventually decided keeping them alive and enslaving those would be the smarter option.

I may already have the new generation of Guardians' firmly under my thumb, but the benefit of also having the old generation plus the Warlock would be immense. I might need to first beat them into submission first, before entrancing them, but I had no real qualms about doing that. And I certainly wasn't lacking in the man power needed to do so.

Already, I had called up the new guardians to hurry over to the control hub and join us here. For I loved the irony of having them be the one's to wear down their friends so I could dominate them. As the ship crawled closer I grew increasingly more excited as thing's were falling more and more into a favorable possession for me. Soon I would truly have no one to stand in my way. Soon I would the undisputed mistress of life and death of galaxy. Soon, I would win.

THANE

It was now or never. I had to act soon, if I wanted to save Adam and the others. I had no idea what was going on outside, but I instinctively knew it wasn't good.

With Adam's words of encouragement still ringing in my head, I tried to power up. It was slow and arduous but I could begin to feel trickles of my power beginning to flow outwards.

As I concentrated on expelling power, forcing myself to ignore the still ongoing and unimaginable pain the amber prison caused, I dig deep within me.

My powers like many others weren't just physical but they were intrinsically tied to my feelings and emotions. As sappy as it's sounds, the more I allowed myself to feel generally the more powerful I get. It's why I always tried to keep a wall up with my emotions.

But now I knew I had to pull down that wall, piece by piece. I allowed all the emotions I had been quelling for so long to finally bubble to the surface unrestricted. Anger at my very existence. Frustration and sadness at seeing how my kind was treated by the universe. Joy and happiness from meeting Adam.

All these emotions , good and bad, I finally let them out. And with it came my power. Far more than I have ever released. I could feel my amber prison beginning to heat up and wobble as it lost it's firmness. And in no time at all my supposedly indestructible coffin slowly began to melt away freeing me of it's pain and anguish filled clutches.

Still maintaining the roll I was on I began to let out even more power releasing a dazzling display of flames. The flames were a myriad of colors reflective of the sources from which they once came from. The black flames borne from the lives lost at Sacrosanct, the gold tinged flames of Adam and my own natural orange hue of majestic heat.

I let them swirl around myself, making peace with their origins and for once in my life chosing to control it instead of letting it control me. I condensed all the flames together. Molding and morphing them into one spiraling orb of power that encased me
I let it build up to the peak. Then as calmly as taking a sigh of relief I unleashed it. Releasing it all out in one guided righteous blaze of fury.

SUPERGIANT

The new Guardians arrived just as Cosmo, forced the ship to dock right in front of the membrane. They were all there. Kraglin, Nova, Phylla Vell, Gamora and Nebula. All heavily armed and powered up. Ready to brutalize their compatriot upon my command.

I towered over all of them as they formed a perimeter infront me, ready to strike the second the ship opened and the old guardians emerged. I am not a fighter, but I do take great delight in sending others out to fight for me. And today was no different as I giddily prepared to set lose my thralls. I lifted my hand up to order them to attack, when something on the monitor near by caught my attention. Curious I turned to look at the strange streak I thought I saw flash across the screen.

The monitors here were connected to OrgoCorp security camera network, and they showed all the corridors and major hubs of the OrgoScope and something appeared to be making it's way through it all place at great speed.

As I looked closer at the weird phenomenon, I slowly began to realize what it was . I can only describe it as a sentient wall of white flame, flying through the populated areas of the OrgoScope at mind boggling speed. As it went it encountered many people milling about and carrying out work. When it came across one of my unwilling thralls like a Ravager or Counter, the flame washed over them leaving them completely unharmed. However when it came across my willing followers like the universal church of Truth acolytes, it instantly burnt them to a crisp as it passed through them.

I watched in horror, as hundreds of my acolytes were selectively culled this way, leaving only my unwilling thralls unharmed and safe. The wall of flames didn't even melt the walls of the corridors it was passing through, even though it had be blindingly hot with how quickly it was cremating my people. No, this cleansing fire was out to purge my people, and only my people. Even going as far as to make unnatural curves and loops, and sometimes completely splitting off entirely just to kill fleeing acolytes.

Through the security camera's I could track it's path and could tell it was making a beeline for me and would be here shortly.

Panicking I began to back away from doorway where it surely would emerge from.
I then compelled the new guardians to forgetting about the old guardians and deal with the new immediate danger. "Go out there and try and stop it" I ordered and they obliged swiftly.

I watched through the monitors as they rushed to intercept the flame soon meeting it in a corridor. But just like before the flames had done before they washed over them leaving them unharmed. And ghosted right through their attempts at stalling it. Even Cosmos telekinetic might couldn't halt the flames, it merely slipped right through her grasp and continued on towards me.

As it drew nearer and nearer. I began to feel the overpowering heat it was releasing and hear the whooshing sound it made. I racked my mind for a plan to stop this. Something...anything. But for once in my life I was stumped and left with no option. This was it. I was doomed. I had used up all my cards and done all I could. My cult was gone, my thralls were useless here. And I couldn't talk my way out of this. It was down to just me and I was powerless to defend against this.

This flame was going to kill me and I had no doubt who was causing it. Thane. It was always Thane. Oh how I wish I never took that brat in and saved his wretched life. The white inferno rounded the corner and came into sight. With no other choice I braced for the attack determined to meet my death defiantly and with a brave face. But when I saw the white hot flame rushing towards me. With the terrifying sound of it's crackling heat sounding eerily like the screeching of mighty avian. And the inferno warping and narrowing to look like the beaked head of fierce bird opening up it's beak to gobble me whole.

I let out an undignified squeal and turned around to flee only to be swiftly consumed whole by the flaming bird avatar, and experience the most agonizing few seconds in all my life. My skin burnt away to ash and dust, my bones cracked and every part of my very being yearned for mercy and found none. As my life faded away and I slipped into eternal darkness, I heard a voice whisper cooly to me "I hope it hurts" echoing the same words I had once to Thane.

EPILOGUE

One Month Later

ADAM

I looked out at the thriving crop fields before me, stretching out as far as my eyes' could see. Accompanied with the beautiful back drop of soft pink and gold hues of the sun setting in the sky, it made a sight to behold.

"Your farming skills have really improved" I complimented Thane continuing to admire his handiwork.

He looked over at me and gave an easy going and pleased smile, "Thanks, but I had help" he said gesturing over to the group of Counters I could just barely make out among the foliage, tending to the crops. I even recognized a few of his former black order members like Black Swan and Glah Ree, both of whom like the others had been freed from their amber prison.

"Still you've really turned this place around. I doubt this place has looked this good even when Thanos himself run it" I said.

Thane merely shrugged nonchalantly and continued to look over the Garden. Thane might be being modest or might genuinely not see how great his achievement here was but he really did do quite a number around here. After The Avengers had killed Thanos, the entire planet Thanos treated as his personal retirement farm went into disrepair with no one to tend to it.

But now that it was the new official homeland and sanctuary for all Counters it was flourishing and thriving. I was initially kind of upset that the Counters had come here in the first place since Drax had been unwilling to house the Counters on KnowWhere like I originally hoped.

But after he had explained it wasn't because he wanted to discriminate against the Counters or that he still held a grudge against Thane and rather it was just a matter of KnowWhere not being safe enough to house them.

Which in fairness it wasn't.
Even after Thane saved the galaxy a month ago, there was still a sizeable minority of people who hated and despised the Counters, so anywhere they lived automatically drew unwanted attention. And KnowWhere was home to a lot of kid's so I understand Drax's unwillingness to invite danger to them even indirectly.

So Thanos' Garden had been the next best thing and if we were being honest it was actually kind of an improvement over KnowWhere. An entire planet for just about thirty Counters to occupy all on their lonesome is an insanely good deal. It was also secluded enough from others to prevent any hateful neighbors and it was completely self sufficient.

Infact due to some tinkering from Rocket, Phylla Vell and other brainy people, the planet is capable of synthesizing a new energy source using SuperGiant's killer virus of all things. Basically by filtering the terrigen mist into a device crated by the eggheads and adding some new elements unique to this planet, the amber that usually form's when a Counter is exposed to it is formed. Except this amber is light blue in color and is brimming with clean energy.

Energy that lot's of space faring races want badly, so much they are willing to recognize Counter's as a people and grant them protective status. (Because yes, even Thane saving their lives hadn't been enough to appease the ungrateful folks of the universe. They still wanted something in return) So now Thanos' Garden (now going by Sanctuary) despite it's miniscule population is a respected and major player in the intergalactic community. It was in all an incredible achievement especially in the span of a just a month. And I would never let Thane forget that.

"Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought our date wasn't until tomorrow?" Thane asked finally looking away from the field and looking at me.

He and I had also officially started dating, though it's mostly been long distance since we both have such a busy schedules and are constantly travelling. I due to Guardians work and Thane due to leading a burgeoning civilization.

"I know, but I actually wanted to talk to you about something?"

"Oh" Thane said stiffening, clearly weary and nervous now. Probably thinking nothing good ever comes from a partner saying"we need to talk".

"Hey don't worry it's nothing bad, I just wanted to run something by you face to face. I know you are super busy here and all that. But I was thinking would you maybe be willing...to join the Guardians of the Galaxy?
We would see each other more often and it would really be good if the galaxy saw a Counter helping out like you would be doing" I said looking at him hopefully.

"Oh" he said in relief relaxing significantly and taking my hands into his. "Of course, I would be honored, but I would have be part timer, if that's okay?"

"Yh, no worries." I assured him. He smiled and stared at me for awhile and then gave a deep sigh.

"Honestly I'm kind of offended it's taken you this long to invite me into your little club. You would think saving the entire galaxy all by my lonesome would fast track my entrance. " He teased.

"Cheeky bastard" I muttered in mock annoyance as I drew in closer to him a planted a soft kiss on his lips.

"Mhm" Thane purred before deepening the kiss. We had really gotten good at kissing since our first attempt back on Euphoria and now we often got caught up in it. And today was no exception as we initially missed the theatrical clearing off someone's throat as they tried to politely make their presence know. Eventually though the person grew irritated and loudly said

"Hey lover boys', enough with the tongue twisters, we've got an emergency to attend to"

Rocket said not to far from us, as he stood off the side with his arm's folded and tapping away with one of his pawed feet.

Flushed and kind off embarrassed we pulled apart and turned towards him. "We'll be right there" I told Rocket causing him to shake his heard in disbelieve but begin to walk off.

As he left, I swear I could hear him grumbling something about "Too many couples within the team." And "the guardians are supposed to be family and with all us pairing off with each other, we are bordering of on some version of pseudo incest here"

Chuckling at that I turned to Thane and said "Well if you aren't busy right now. How do you feel about going on your first guardians mission?"

Thane grinned and said "Lead the way boss". And together we began to head towards Rocket and the ship. We could see the others waiting for us a top a hill near a ship. Guardians Incorporated.

Off to a new adventure and ready for whatever else life or the universe might throw at us.