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“Hurry up and land already!” Quill complained as Rocket took the controls and sped into Xandar's atmosphere.

“You don’t gotta tell me twice.” Rocket replied, matching Quill's energy perfectly.

Both of them wore greedy looks as they stared down at the planet, ready to collect their credits.

“How shameless...” Gamora commented from the side. “They barely do anything yet they’re ready to take an equal cut.”

“Hey! Who’s ship do you think ferried all of you to and from Xanov?” Quill argued back.

“Yeah!” Rocket agrees. “Besides, you didn’t do much either.”

“The woman is right.” Drax marches over and takes Gamora’s side.

“The woman has a name...” Gamora said in annoyance, though Drax didn’t seem to notice.

“We should give our shares to Spider. He did all of the work.” Drax said.

“Hell no!” Quill exclaimed as Rocket stood on the pilot's chair beside him.

“There ain’t no way I’m sharing my money with nobody!” Rocket denied vehemently.

“Guys, relax.” Peter inputs himself into the conversation. “My cut is more than enough. All of you can keep your credits. After all, there are a lot more credits to be made together in the future.”

“...” Hearing Peter's words, everyone went quiet as they all looked around, feeling uncertain about that possibility.

They all may have started to like each other, if only a tiny bit, but that didn’t mean they would definitely be sticking around...

Reading the atmosphere, Peter knew what they were thinking and could only sigh internally.

‘I’ll turn them into a fully-fledged crew soon enough...’

—————————————

“Welcome back, Spider-Man.” Irani Rael welcomed Peter and the Guardians as they landed. “You handled my terrorist problems far faster than I thought possible.”

“I aim to please.” Peter smiles under his mask.

“Can we get this show on the road? I got credits to spend.” Rocket complains.

“Ah, yes.” Irani nods as she pulls out six thick-looking alien credit cards and passes them out. “Since you finished the job far faster than expected, I threw in an extra 50 thousand credits as a bonus.”

“Easiest money I’ve ever made.” Quill laughed as Rocket snatched Groots card and stashed it away with his own.

“I am Groot!?” Groot instantly used his roots to bind Rocket.

“Hey! Relax, big guy.” Rocket shouts as he tries and fails to break free. “I’m only keeping it safe. Last time you had money, you got scammed into buying a jar of p*ss for a thousand credits.”

“Ewww...” Gamora groans in disgust.

“I am Groot.” Groot reluctantly conceded as he released Rocket.

“You sure picked up an odd group of characters...” Irani says to Peter as she watched the small squabble unfold.

“Yeah, but at least they’re interesting.”

——————————————

After getting their payment, Peter and the Guardians didn’t stick around much longer.

Irani Rael watched as they boarded their ship and flew off into the sky, leaving the planet at full speed.

After all, Rocket was driving.

While Irani was feeling happy with her transaction as she initially doubted the Guardian's success rate, especially since they were all criminals except Peter, a man in a Nova Corps uniform came running in her direction with a distraught look on his face.

“Ma’am!” He yelled in a panic.

“?” Turning around, Irani wonder what the hell was going on.

“Ma’am! It’s Xanov! The Chitauri have invaded Xanov!” He rambled.

Instantly, Irani’s good mood was turned upside down.

—————————————

“I’m rich...” Rocket muttered as he stared in awe at the card in his hand. “I’m gonna buy a new multi-shot hand cannon. Maybe an energized electron blaster too...”

“I want to upgrade the ship a bit.” Quill says as he held his card as well. “The brakes on this thing ain’t been so good lately. After that, I’ll spend the rest on whatever catches my eye.”

“I’ll set my funds aside for the war against Thanos and Ronan’s surviving minions.” Drax joins in.

“...” Gamora remained silent.

“Good, but we have to come to a decision now.” Peter says as he pulled the Orb out of nowhere, catching the eye of everyone around the room. “What are we doing about the Orb?”

“It was mine, to begin with, so I don’t see how everyone else should have a say in this.” Quill complains.

“You took it from some ruins on Morag. The Orb never belonged to you in the first place.” Gamora counters with a hostile look in her eyes.

“Yeah, the Orb belongs to me and Groot.” Rocket throws himself into the argument. “We saved your life back on Xandar. Without us, you would’ve been offed by this witch. You owe us.”

“What?! You were only trying to capture me so you can sell me off to Yondu and his Ravagers for a quick payday!” Quill was starting to get heated, as everyone seemed to have a claim to his property. “And you-”

Quill turns and locks onto Gamora next.

“I did take the Orb from a ruin. An abandoned ruin on an empty planet! It belonged to no one until I took it.” Quill was fed up with everyone’s greed.

“I would like to point out that possession is nine-tenths of the law.” Peter says as he plays with the Orb in his hand. “also, It’s ten-tenths of the law when you're strong enough to do whatever you want.”

“...” Quill couldn’t help but sigh in frustration, as he didn’t see a possibility of getting his Orb back anymore.

He could argue with everyone else for days and even fight them for it if he had to, but Peter is a different story altogether.

“Now, since this Orb belongs to me-” Peter says as he enjoys the annoyed looks on everyone’s faces. “-that means that I can do whatever I want with it. And I’d be more than happy to share it with my friends.”

Instantly, everyone’s mood seemed to perk up a bit.

“Just like our last job, we can split the profit six ways.” Peter says, knowing that there probably won’t be any profit since the Orb is completely empty. ‘Though maybe we can scam somebody?’

After all, it would definitely be a very Guardians thing to do.

“I’m fine with an even split.” Rocket was the first to agree, as he knew that his claim was fairly weak anyway.

“I am Groot.” Groot agreed as well.

“I don’t care for this Orb.” Drax shook his head uncaringly, detaching himself from

this conversation.

The only reason he still stuck around was the fact that Gamora’s family may come around.

Drax wanted nothing more than to kill everyone related to Ronan, and that included Thanos and his children.

Of course, Gamora was able to get a pass, but that was only due to her severing all ties with her father.

“Fine, I’ll share ‘my’ Orb.” Quill says, feeling like he was screwed over in this situation. “But I don’t have a buyer anymore. He backed out when he heard about my run-in with the Chitauri.”

Thanks to his talks with Gamora, Quill learned about the odd alien bug soldiers that attacked him on Morag.

“That only leaves you.” Peter turned to Gamora, who looked extremely reluctant. “You must have been offered a sh*t ton of money to be this hesitant to share.”

Hearing Peter's assumption, both Quill and Rocket looked toward Gamora with greed shimmering in their eyes.

“Now that you say it, I do remember her saying she had a buyer!” Quill says as he leans in. “How much did they offer?”

“That’s none of your business.” Gamora replies defiantly.

“Oh, he’s right, isn’t he?” Rocket joins Quill in staring fixedly at Gamora. “Just tell us how much it is. It’s not like you can take the Orb now.”

Silence fills the room for a moment as Gamora slowly gave in to their demands.

“Fine...” She says as she whispers the price.

Nobody else was able to hear her but Peter and although he knew the price already, he was still surprised to hear such an astronomical number.

‘It is an Infinity Stone after all...’ Peter thought to himself.

“Speak up, come on.” Quill prodded her excitedly.

“...Four Billion Units.” Gamora states, shocking everyone.

Rocket, who was probably the most money hungry of them all, dropped his 150 thousand credits onto the ground in complete shock.

Even Drax, who wasn’t interested earlier, couldn’t help but feel tempted by such a large amount of money.

“D-Did you say Billion with a B?” Quill asks in disbelief.

“Yes...” Gamora uttered in frustration.

After all, she would be losing most of that money in the 6 way split.

“How the hell did you get a buyer willing to spend that much?!” Quill jumps to his feet. “My broker was only gonna give me a few million and I thought it was the payday of a lifetime!”

“Sounds like he was scamming you.” Peter says as Quill's eyes widen in realization.

“That weasel Motherf*cker!” He shouts in anger.

...

Once Quill and everyone else calmed down, it was time to figure out where the hell they were going.

“So, who’s the buyer and where are we headed?” Peter asks.

“He calls himself the Collector. He has the largest collection of interstellar fauna, relics, and species in the galaxy. The Orb is just another Relic for his growing collection.” Gamora explains, leaving out the fact that the Orb held an Infinity Stone.

“Alright, where to?” Rocket rushed to the cockpit, ready to make his money.

“Knowhere.” Gamora answers, confusing everyone.

“What? Where are we going, Woman? Don’t waste my time. There’s money to be made.” Rocket starts complaining, like usual.

“...” Gamora couldn’t help but sigh in frustration.

First, she has to share her billions and now she has to deal with this...

A/N: 1636 words :) I edited the last chapter to change the timeline of them leaving Xanov, so it makes a bit more sense. Instead of the Chitauri army showing up 10 minutes after they left, It’s 10 hours.