C255 Spider-Man (Patreon)

A/N: Enjoy the extra chapter :)

“Spider-Guy!” Quill exclaimed in excitement as he ignored Peter's incorrect use of his code name. “Where have you been?”

“Spider-Man.” Peter corrects him. “And I was making a deal with Irani Rael.”

“You made a deal with the Nova Prime?” Rocket asks doubtfully.

“I am Groot?” Groot was surprised as well.

Even Gamora and Drax were shocked by the news.

Though that was mainly because none of them knew who the hell Spider-Man or Guy was.

“Yep, in exchange for us dealing with a Kree terrorist cell, Irani agreed to set you all free.” Peter reveals.

Of course, Peter could have easily broke them out of prison with a single portal, but this way would be more fun.

After all, they needed to bond as comrades in order to become the Guardians they were meant to be.

Upon hearing Peters words, the only one who seemed excited by the news was Drax.

“Good!” Drax stepped forward, ready for war. “You will have my assistance, Spider.”

“Count us out.” Rocket refused to participate as he and Groot strolled out of the cell block. “Me and Groot don’t work for free.”

“I am Groot.” Groot nods in agreement with his friend's words.

Seconds after stepping a few feet out of the cell block, the bounty-hunting duo was stopped by a line of armed Nova Corps members.

“That’s good because she also agreed to pay each of us 100 thousand units for our service.” Peter offered the carrot, while the soldiers showed them the stick.

When he was negotiating with Irani, Peter knew that the gift of freedom wouldn’t be enough to sway people like Rocket and Quill, so he put a price tag on their service as well.

Irani was confused at first, as she had no idea how Peter would lead a band of misfit criminals against a terrorist cell, but the fact that this was the man who killed Ronan assured her enough to agree.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Rocket asked as he and Groot turned back around. “That’s more than double Star-Kid over there is worth.”

“It’s Star-Lord.” Quill corrects in annoyance. “And I’m in too. 100 thousand units is a good payday.”

“Good, because those who refuse to participate will remain in the Kyln for the remainder of their sentence.” Peter explains as he looks to Gamora and awaits her decision.

“...Fine.” She mutters as she joins the group. “But once this is over, I’ll be taking the Orb.”

“You mean this?” Peter asks as he pulls the Orb out of nowhere, and spins it on his finger like a basketball.

As soon as the Guardians caught sight of the Orb, each of them locked onto it with hungry looks in their eyes, except for Drax, who had no idea what it was.

Even Rocket and Groot, who only knew it was worth a big sum of money, crafted plans in their minds to snatch it when the time was right.

“My Orb!” Quill rushed up and tried to take it, but Peter tossed it in the air, where a portal appeared and swallowed it whole before snapping shut. “Hey, what the hell, Man?”

“I’ll be keeping the Orb safe until we finish this mission.” Peter says, leaving no room for complaints or arguments. “Once our end of the bargain is fulfilled and we’re all 100 thousand units richer, we can come together and decide how to deal with the Orb.”

“Fine...” Quill reluctantly agreed as everyone else remained silent.

“Good.” Peter nodded as he turned to the warden. “Have your men bring their belongings, so we can be on our way.”

“Yes, sir.” The warden agrees easily as he turns to his soldiers. “You heard the man! Bring their belongings and I don’t want to hear about anything going missing!”

As the soldiers jumped into action, all of the Guardians were beginning to wonder who Spider-Man really was.

After all, he had enough of a reputation to order the Nova Corps around like it was nothing.

“Umm, sir?” The warden asks nervously.

“Yes?” Peter replies.

“I-Is it true that you killed Ronan the Accuser and his army?” The Warden asks like a child to his hero.

“Yeah, though I didn’t do it alone.” Peter answers with a nod, trying not to brag too much.

Instantly, each member of the Guardians went wide-eyed as they realized why Spider-Man was so respected by the Nova Corps.

“You!” Drax and Gamora exclaimed in tandem.

“Me?” Peter answers in amusement.

“You took my vengeance from me!” Drax yells in hostility as Gamora decides to keep her mouth shut, for now.

“Sorry?” Peter apologized in confusion.

“Was it painful?” He asks hopefully.

“What? You mean his death?” Peter asks and receives a nod. “Not really. I took his hammer and broke his neck with it. He was pretty weak for some big galactic bad guy.”

“You should have taken your time.” Drax starts to lecture Peter. “Ronan deserves nothing less than excruciating torture in his dying moments.”

“Truthfully, I thought he would be stronger and killed him by accident.” Peter explains with a shrug, shocking all of the Nova Corps as well as the Guardians.

“If he was so powerless, then you should have left him alive.” Drax argues in rage. “His death was mine!”

...

After some awkward silence, as Peter didn’t know how to deal with Drax’s illogical anger, everyone had their belongings returned and were set free.

“My baby!” Quill exclaimed as he saw his ship parked in the hangar that the warden escorted them to.

“It was an honor meeting you, sir.” The Warden says genuinely as he and his men salute in Peter's direction.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Warden.” Peter replies respectfully as he and the Guardians board the ship.

...

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Rocket repeats with a laugh as the ship's door seals shut. “You know that piece of sh*t runs one of the worst prisons in the Galaxy, right? He’s only being respectful to you because you killed his boogeyman.”

“True, but that’s no reason to burn bridges.” Peter says with a shrug. “After all, who knows when I’ll have to fish my new friends out of jail again.”

“Look here, you costume-wearing freak.” Rocket says to Peter without fear. “I ain’t your friend. I’m here for money and that’s it. Once this job is done, me and Groot will be on our way.”

“I am Groot.” Groot turns to Rocket.

“Oh, shut up, you walking plank of wood.” Rocket says and storms off.

“I am Groot.” Groot ignores Rocket's departure to the cockpit of the ship and turns to Peter.

“You want to be friends?” Peter asks for clarification.

“I am Groot.” Groot nods.

“Cool, so do you eat food?” Peter asks as he ignores Gamora’s beaming stare. “Or do you just drink water and sit in the sun like other plants?”

“I am Groot.” Groot explains intricately.

While Peter was getting to know Groot, Quill and Rocket started fighting over who would be flying the ship.

...

Once they finally flew out of the Kylns hangar, Peter called a meeting to fully explain the mission they were given.

“So, where are these terrorists?” Rocket asks as he was able to somehow convince Quill to let him drive.

“Here, plug this in.” Peter hands over the Xandarian equivalent of a flash drive.

“...” As Quill plugged it in, a nearby screen lit up, showing the Nova Empires' second most populated planet, Xanov.

“According to Nova intelligence, Xanov is infested with a terrorist group known as the Sons of Ronan. They practically worships Ronan like a god.” Peter explains as Drax perks up at the mention of his most hated enemy. “Our job is to simply find and capture every member.”

As Peter explains this, videos and images appear, showing the bombings that the Sons of Ronan have taken credit for.

“We can’t kill them?” Drax asked as he watched a school burn on the monitor.

Even Quill couldn’t help but agree with Drax’s sentiment. Killing children is just messed up...

“Killing is allowed, but a living terrorist is a lot more talkative than a dead one, so try to keep them alive. At least, until we can question them.” Peter answers.

“Do we have any leads?” Gamora asks, as even she didn’t like seeing the targets of these terrorists.

“We’ll be meeting with the Nova Corps on Xanov.” Peter explained. “They’ll give us everything they have, which will hopefully be enough for us to get a good head start.”

...

After answering some more questions, Rocket and Quill rush off to set their destination while everyone else got comfortable for the long journey ahead.

“Where’s my sister?” Just as Peter took a seat away from everyone else, Gamora found her time to strike and started questioned him.

“You mean Nebula?” Peter asks and receives a nod. “She is currently on my home planet, living her life away from her abusive father.”

“Good...” Gamora says simply. “Is she happy?”

“I think so.” Peter nods as he takes out his phone and shows her a picture of Nebula eating ice cream. “She’s been learning how to enjoy her life lately.”

Gamora smiled warmly as she saw the foreign look of happiness on her angry sister's face.

Although she would never consider Thanos or the Black Order as her family, Nebula always felt like a real sister, especially with how often they fought.

Both physically and verbally.

“You should be careful.” Gamora warns him. “Nobody has ever taunted Thanos as you have and walked away unscathed.”

“Oh, did daddy dearest tell you about our little discussion?” Peter asks jokingly.

“No, I was there for the whole thing.” Gamora says as an amused smirk graced her lips.

“I see you enjoyed the show then.” Peter matches her smirk, though she couldn’t see it.

“I’m not kidding when I say you should be careful though.” Gamora turns serious in an instant. “My ‘Father’ plans to send the Black Order to your planet soon enough.”

A/N: 1687 words :) GN