Space. The final frontier. The cosmic vacuum was almost incomprehensibly massive, yet also incomprehensibly filled. Life teamed in every corner of the galaxy, thousands of civilizations, millions of species. The odds of a specific, lone, Guardian-filled spacecraft picking up the distress signal of an Asgardian ship in the middle of the void were next to zero. And yet…

The colorful cavalcade of characters blasted through the galaxy, listening to some killer jams along the way. Roman Torchwick, also known as Starlord, sung off tune to the classic while the rest of the crew either nodded their heads or ignored the music. Despite the company, Roman was one hundred percent earthling-human, with bright ginger hair to boot. He used to be something more, but… No longer.

"Why are we doing this again?" Zwei, the talking dog-raccoon hybrid, yawned.

"It's a distress signal, Zwei. Someone could be dying." Cinder explained for what seemed like the thirtieth time. She was humanoid, but not an earthling. If one looked closely, they could see faint black lines tracing across her veins. They had faded, but the scars of the past never truly healed.

"No, I get that. But why are we doing it?" The animal pressed.

"Because we're good people…" Roman chimed in. "...And maybe whoever it is will give us a little cash-ola for our help."

"Which isn't the point." Cinder chided.

"Which isn't the point." Torchwick agreed. As the self-elected leader, he was charged with setting a good example for his team. "But if they don't pony up…"

"We take their ship!" Junior declared with glee. He was different from the rest as well, coming from a more primitive world where concepts like metaphors and sarcasm hadn't even been invented yet. The skin that contained his 'massive' muscles was littered in red marks across his boy.

"B-b-b-bingo!" Roman agreed happily. He had to set a good example, but he also needed them on board with the mission and focused on the task. And that sometimes meant stretching the truth. "'Not really.'" The Leader mouthed to a worried Cinder.

"We are arriving." Militia announced. She was the newest arrival to the group after their latest world-saving adventure. Nothing seemed off about her except for the antennae that stuck from her forehead, giving her the powers of an empath.

"Alright, Guardians. Don't forget that this might be dangerous, so let's put on or mean faces." Torchwick ordered on deaf ears. At the very least, Militia made an effort. "Neo, put that thing away." Roman directly addressed the final occupant of the ship, Neo, who was currently engrossed in her video game.

In terms of species, Neo was the odd one out, being a plant and all that. While she appeared as a normal, albeit colorful, teen girl, Neo was actually entirely plant based. Nobody knew where she came from, but they all knew that she was nearly immortal, considering only a handful of years ago, she was a fully grown plant-woman who sacrificed herself for her friends.

But that was a story for another time.

"Neo, don't make me tell you again." Roman scolded.

"I am Neo!" Neo responded with the only sentence she could say, continue to play her game. Nearly everyone- Save Militia, who still couldn't fully understand Neo- cried out indignantly at her response. With this, Zwei had enough.

"You better watch yourself, little missy, or I'm gonna smash that thing to pieces!" The hybrid snarled. Zwei had been with Neo the longest, but that didn't mean he'd go easy on her. Neo just rolled her eyes in response.

The Guardian's ship decelerated and a war zone was revealed. Pieces of ship scattered in their entire view, while the bodies took up the remaining space.

"Looks like we're no getting paid." Zwei commented half-heartedly. Just then, a thump on the ship made everyone jump in surprise, as a body was smeared onto the ship's view.

"Oh my." Militia commented while Zwei frantically looked for where the windshield wipers were at.

The body was that of a woman with short orange hair, and despite himself, Roman couldn't help but stare at the eyepatch-wearing woman with morbid curiosity.

And then her eye opened.

"Shit!"

Back inside the ship, the unconscious woman lay motionless on their examination table. If it wasn't for the steady rise and fall of her chest, Roman would guess her to surely be dead.

"How the hell is this chick still alive?" The Leader spoke what they were all thinking.

"She is not a chicken. You are a chicken. This… This is a woman. A handsome, muscular woman." Junior corrected with the same subtlety he always had. That is to say, none.

"I'm muscular…" Roman defended.

"Torch, don't take this the wrong way- or do, I don't care- but you're practically a stick. Just look at your wiry ass." Zwei insulted.

"Wa- That doesn't mean I don't have muscle!" The earthling protested. "That's just how my muscles formed. I'm plenty muscular."

"You have gotten quite skinny since the fight with your father." Junior commented. Roman scoffed.

"That's not true! You don't think that's true, right Cinder?" Cinder ignored him and circled around to the mystery woman's left side.

"She is anxious, angry. She feels tremendous loss and guilt." Militia noted, her hands on the woman's forehead.

"It's like a pirate had a baby with an angel." Junior praised the woman before him.

"It's like his muscles are made of Cotati metal fibers." Cinder appraised the orange haired woman's arm.

"What, do you both have a crush on her?" Roman joked at their seeming obsession. Cinder simply rolled her eyes and dropped the arm, but Junior took on a more thought provoking look.

"She is indeed attractive to me, but I may not take another mate until I have successfully avenged my last one and our children. That is the way of my people."

"Right… Sorry." Torchwick backpedaled from the joke. "Uh, Militia, wake her up."

"Wake." Militia complied easily, her hands still on the subject's forehead.

As soon as the word was spoken, chaos ensued. The woman woke with a start, sitting straight up and then throwing herself off the examination table. Taking a breath, she steadied herself and rose to her feet, turning around to see each of the Guardians ready to fight- Besides Neo, who continued to play her game unfazed.

"Who the hell are you guys?"

Being the generous folk they were, the Guardians equipped Nora with a blanket and a bowl of soup to cope with the astounding loss she had just faced. Nothing could replace the hole in her heart that Salem created when she killed Renny… But the soup wasn't half bad.

"The entire time I knew Salem, she only ever had one goal: To bring balance to the Universe by wiping out half of all life. She used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre…" Cinder revealed as Nora stared at her.

"Including my own." Junior chimed in.

"If she gets her hands on all six Infinity Relics, she can do it with the snap of her fingers, like this." For emphasis and example, Cinder snapped, sending a chill down everyone's spine.

"You seem to know a great deal about Salem." The goddess of thunder noticed, tracing the faded black veins exposed on Cinder's body.

"Cinder… is the daughter of Salem." Junior confessed, though the moment was inopportune.

"Your mother killed my lover." Nora snarled, dropping the soup and walking over to Cinder aggressively. The daughter of Salem stood strong in her positions unflinching as the sins of the past seemingly rushed to greet her. At the same time, Roman stepped in to try and fix up the mess.

"Stepmother, technically. And she hates her as much as you do." The Leader of the Guardians explained as Nora got in Cinder's face. Then, however, the Asgardian's face softened.

"Families can be tough." Nora gripped Cinder's shoulder. "Before my father died, he told me I had a half-sister that he imprisoned in Hel. Then she came back from Hel and stabbed me in the eye, so I had to kill her. But that's life, isn't it? I guess. Goes round and round and… I feel you pain." They shared a moment of understanding together before Nora's eyebrows came together. "What am I doing? I need a hammer."

The goddess disengaged Cinder and hobbled over to the other side of the ship. There, she fumbled around with the machinery and buttons, plugging in all different combinations on the keypad.

"Uh… what are you doing?" Roman confronted, a curious expression on his face.

"Taking your pod." She responded simply.

"Uh, no. You're not. This is my ship and my pod. You're not going anywhere with it."

"Are you trying to stand in the way of my destiny?" Nora challenged, straightening out and stepping closer to Roman.

"Are you trying to steal my pod?" Roman retorted, not breaking a sweat.

"Enough with this." Cinder pulled through. "We need to stop Thanos, regardless of who gets the pod. Which means, we need to know where he's going next."

"Knowhere." The thunder goddess responded instantly.

"He must be going somewhere." Zwei objected.

"No. Knowhere. It's a place. We've been there before. It sucks." Roman recognized as Nora started digging through their food.

"Nora, why would she go to Knowhere?" Cinder tried obtain some concrete information from the guarded warrior.

"Because for years, the Relic of Reality has been safely stored there with a man we call the Collector.

"Well, if it's with the Collector, then it's not safe. Only an idiot would give that man a Relic." Torchwick criticized lightly.

"Or a genius." Nora instantly rebutted. Cinder continued to ignore those small moments.

"How do you know she's not going for one of the other Relics?"

"There are six relics out there. Salem already has the Relic of Power because he stole it last week when he decimated Xandar. He stole the Relic of Space from me when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Relics of Time and Mind are safe on Earth, since they're with the Avengers."

"The Avengers?"

"They're Earth's mightiest heroes." Nora claimed offhandedly, still ravaging the Guardians' ship for supplies.

"Like Spruce Willis?" Militia asked innocently.

"Uh, He may be on the team. I don't know. Haven't been there in a while." The Avenger admitted before continuing. "As for the Relic of Soul, well, no one's ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Salem can't get it. Hence, she'll be getting the Reality Stone."

"Then we have to go to Knowhere now." Cinder decided.

"Wrong. Where we have to go, is Nidavellir."

"That's made up word!" Junior called out.

"All words are made up." Nora rebutted instantly, blowing Junior's mind.

"Hold up. Nidavellir is real? Seriously?!" Zwei questioned, getting excited. "That place is a legend! They make the most powerful, horrific, weapons to ever torment the Universe! I would very much like to go there, please."

"The puppy is correct, and is clearly the smartest among you."

"Puppy?" Zwei questioned, affronted. Nora didn't notice.

"Only Yatsuhashi can forge the weapon I need." She turned to Zwei. "I assume you're the captain, sir?" The raccoon-dog smiled at the False compliment.

"You got that right." He said slightly sarcastically.

"You seem like a noble leader." The goddess of Thunder did not notice the tone of voice. "Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?"

"Hell yeah! Let's get some weapons!"

"Weapon, not plural." Nora corrected. "But it's alright. One weapon is all I need."

"What kind of weapon are we talking here?" Zwei inquired.

"The 'Salem-Killing' kind."

"Shouldn't we all have weapons like that?" Roman perked back up. "Seems useful."

"No." Nora instantly shut the idea down. "You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as your mind would collapse to madness."

"Is it weird that I want to do it even more now?" The pseudo-animal questioned aloud.

"Kinda, yeah." The asgardian nodded.

"If we don't go to Knowhere and Salem retrieves another Relic, she'll be too powerful to stop." Cinder reasoned.

"Well, we got two ships and a large assortment of morons. Me and Neo can go with the pirate-angel here to get a cool weapon, while you morons can go to Knowhere to try and stop Salem. Cool? Cool." Zwei assembled the plan within moments.

"So cool." Nora assented with a smile. Roman simply rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. For the record, I know you're only going with her because that's where Salem isn't, Zwei." The real Captain pointed out.

"Whatever you say, Torchwick. I'll see you morons on the other side." The dog-raccoon said goodbye to his friends in his own unique way. "Come on, Neo. Put that game down, you'll rot your brain."

"Good luck and farewell, morons." Nora added as she, Zwei, and Neo piled into the ship. The rest of the Guardians waved as the ship blasted off into space.

Scenes from Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2

The ceremonial regent chamber was exquisitely designed, symmetrical across the center as matching numbers of golden Sovereign guards lined each meticulously designed wall. In the middle of the beauty, however, five idiots stood proud. They waited for their reward in defeating the Sovereign's alien threat without any shame- the one called 'Junior' even picked his nose.

"We thank you, Guardians, for putting your life on the line." Ayesha, the high priestess of the Sovereign began delicately. "We could not risk the lives of our own Sovereign citizens. Every citizen is born exactly as designed by the community, impeccable, both physically and mentally. We control the DNA of our progeny, germinating then in birthing pods." This history lesson she has was standard affair for dealing with foreigners, designed by the Sovereign's top psychologists to intimidate and assert superiority over the outsider. Unfortunately, the Sovereign's tip psychologists did not have the Guardians in mind when thinking of their speech.

"I guess I prefer making people the Old-fashioned way." Roman Torchwick, the self-professed leader of the group, flirted slyly. To the surprise of the many attendants surrounding the High Priestess, it seemed to be working.

"Well… perhaps someday you could give me a history lesson in the… 'archaic ways' of our ancestors. For academic purposes, of course." Ayesha continued the courtship.

"Well, I mean, if it's for research that could be pretty-" The charmer was cut off by perhaps the only serious member of the group- and certainly the most dangerous- Cinder, daughter of Salem.

"Enough with this." She told Roman off sternly, who had the decency to look abashed about the whole ordeal. Turning to Ayesha, Cinder requested what the Guardians has rightfully earned. "Your people promised something in trade for our services. Bring it, and we shall gladly be on our way."

"Very well." The High Priestess agreed, slightly annoyed at the interruption. She nodded to the soldiers to her left, and they exited to bring back the reward.

The golden soldiers returned with a woman, dressed in a cloak and shackled by her wrists and ankles. In the customary dramatic fashion of the Sovereign, the woman was dropped to her knees and hood was yanked back. Glaring at Cinder with one robotic eye, the dark skinned, mint haired, cyborg, Emerald, was revealed. The two sisters said nothing, but their contempt was obvious for each other in their shared glares.

"Awkward…" Roman quipped quietly.

"I understand she is your sister?" Ayesha asserted in an almost threatening tone. Her question was answered as Cinder roughly picked her sister off the ground, dragging her back to the ship.

"She's worth no more to me than the bounty due for her on Xandar." The pale killer claimed, not even bothering to look back at the High Priestess. Said High Priestess nodded.

"Our soldiers apprehended her attempting to steal the batteries. Do with her as you please." Ayesha granted.

"Thank you, High Priestess Ayesha. Until we meet again." Roman went to depart with a wink, the rest of the Guardians turning to fall behind Cinder.

"What is your heritage, Mr. Torchwick?" Ayesha suddenly asked before he could leave.

"…My mother is from Earth." The 'Starlord' started, clearly uncomfortable with the question.

"And your father?" Ayesha pushed.

"He's... not from Missouri, that's all I know." The Priestess stared at him, but while before the stare was filled with something close to lust, now there was only disgust.

"I see within you, an unorthodox genealogy. A particularly reckless hybrid of species." Roman did not deign the golden Sovereign with a response, but Zwei certainly did.

"You know, they told me you people were conceited douchebags. But that isn't true at all." The raccoon-dog hybrid said sarcastically, grinning wide and winking in full view of the entire chamber. The rest of the Guardians shifted in their spots uncomfortably, eyeing the Sovereign guards for any kind of reaction. "Oh shit, you all saw that, didn't you?" Zwei addresses the crowd before looking to Ayesha. "My apologies, that was meant to be behind our back."

Junior yanked Zwei away, and the tension slowly released as the Guardians walked away. Junior set the animal hybrid down as they walked a few paces behind Cinder and Roman, ignoring the harsh stares of the Sovereign.

"Consider yourself blessed that they didn't kill you." The red marked warrior noted to Zwei's immense pleasure.

"You're telling me. You wanna buy some batteries?" The dog-raccoon grinned and flashed the golden, glowing, Anulax batteries hidden in his bag. Junior laughed aloud as Zwei shushed him with a conspiratorial smirk.

Despite Zwei's sneaky dealings, the Sovereign were quickly made aware of their battery shortage and launched a full scale attack on the fleeing Guardian cruiser. Taking evasive action, the Guardians attempted to navigate through a Quantum Asteroid Field to reach a jump point. The flight was… bumpy, to say the least, but they made their way through the field nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the Sovereign fleet was waiting for the cruiser on the other end of Asteroid Field, nearly blowing the group to smithereens. Keyword being 'nearly,' as miraculously, the Guardians made the jump and successfully crash landed on the planet they arrived at.

"Either one of you could have gotten us through that field, if you had flown with what's between your ears instead of what's between your legs!" Cinder scolded the pair of pilots, Roman and Zwei, who's fighting had almost ruined their chances of survival.

"If what's between my legs had a hand in it, I guarantee I could have landed this ship better than him." Roman replied instantly with his infamous one liners.

"You're not being funny, Roman. We almost died because of your arrogance!" The pale warrior shot back. The human hybrid reeled in disbelief.

"My arrogance?! More like because he stole he Anulax batteries!" Torchwick glared at Zwei.

"Do you know why I did it, 'Star-Munch?'" Zwei questioned. Starlord looked at the animal with contempt.

"Why?"

"I did it because I wanted to!" The 'leader' looked away.

"Dick." Roman muttered under his breath. Zwei ignored him.

"What are we even talking about this for? We just had a little man save us by blowing up fifty ships!"

"How little?" Junior inquired.

"Like this." The dog-raccoon informed, holding his finger and thumb about an inch apart.

"A little one-inch man saved us?" Cinder scoffed.

"Well, I'm sure if he got closer he'd be much larger." Zwei defended, crossing his arms.

"That's how eyesight works, you stupid animal." Torchwick commented snidely.

"Don't call me an animal!" The hybrid rounded back on him, snarling.

"Whatever." Roman blew off. At the same moment, Emerald looked to the sky.

"Someone followed you through the jump point." The cyborg noted, looking to the giant spaceship hovering above them. Instantly, playtime was over, and the Guardians drew their weapons and fell back to back. All except Emerald.

"Set me free, you'll need my help." The daughter of Salem pleaded to her sister as the unknown ship approached closer.

"I'm not an idiot, Emerald." Cinder shot back as her only response.

"You're an idiot if you deprive yourself a hand in combat." The dark skinned woman reasoned.

"You'd attack me the moment I'd let you go."

"No I wouldn't…" Emerald mumbled unconvincingly.

"You'd think an evil super villain would learn how to lie properly." Roman chuckled.

"I bet it's the one-inch man!" Junior helpfully added as the ship started to land. All around, trees were crushed into the ground, and when the hovering craft finally settled, the main hatch opened up.

Out from the ship stepped two distinct figures. One seemed to be a normal human female, except for the two antennae that stuck out of her head. The other seemed to be an adventurer, happily smiling through his well trimmed, thick beard.

"After all these years, I've finally found you." The bearded man claimed with a smile.

"Who the hell are you?" Roman engaged carefully, assuming his leadership role.

"I figured my rugged good looks would make that obvious… My name's Ego. And I'm your Dad, Roman."

"So I guess this could all be mine someday." Torchwick commented, looking out to the beautiful landscape beyond his balcony as the songs of his people played. Cinder stood with him, ignoring the scenery to mess with a communication device.

The Guardians has decided to split themselves after the revelation that Roman's father dropped on them. Junior and Cinder would accompany Roman with his father while Neo an Zwei would stay back on the ship with Emerald. The black haired warrior was reluctant to abandon her sister with Zwei, but the opportunity for Roman to meet his father was just too good to pass up. Cinder had insisted upon it.

She regretted that decision now. This place… It wasn't right. Something was going on behind the scenes and it seemed she would be the only one with enough wit to get to the bottom of it all.

"Zwei, are you there? Come in, Zwei!" Cinder called into the device before giving up. With a smile on his face and a song in his heart, Roman waltzed over behind the pale warrior and wrapped his hands around her waist.

"Don't worry about the stupid animal, Cinder. Just dance with me, and everything will be alright." He claimed with confidence.

"I'm not-"

"Come on. We're listening to an Earth classic here! Just give me this." Seeing no other way to get through to the man, Cinder reluctantly engaged him. They easily danced in unison together with the beat, but the daughter of Salem's sour face did not disappear.

"This place isn't right, Roman." She hit the nail on the head directly. His smile didn't falter for a second.

"What are you on about? Need I remind you who wanted me to come here in the first place?" Starlord quipped.

"I don't need to be reminded of my mistakes, Torchwick." She spoke hotly. "You're better than anyone at smelling bullshit when it arises, how can you not be worried right now?!"

"I thought I smelled it, but then you convinced me to give my dad a chance, and I realized the smell was simply the demons of my past. You were right. I'm man enough to admit it." At this, Cinder disconnected from him and stalked into his room.

"That girl, Militia. She's afraid of something." Roman walked in after her, starting to get annoyed.

"Why are you trying to take this away from me?" Roman accused, but Cinder rounded on him.

"Don't you get it?! There's nothing to take away! This place isn't real."

"This is real." The Leader of the Guardians insisted. "I'm only half human, remember?"

"That's the half I'm worried about." She muttered, yet Roman caught wind of it.

"Oh, I get it. You're jealous because I'm part god! You always loved me better when I was the weak one!"

Cinder looked away and started fumbling with the communication device again, ignoring the comment. As much as she loathed to admit it, there was a part of her that absolutely hated the idea of anyone being stronger than her- especially Roman. But it would do them no good to indulge in that aspect of herself now.

"Ugh. You were insufferable even before you were a god." Cinder deflected. "I haven't been able to reach Zwei. I'm going to see if I can get a signal outside." She marched out, but was stopped by Roman's final call.

"I can't believe you! I finally found my family and you can't be happy for me?" Looking to him with soul piercing eyes, Cinder spoke the words that sent a lance through his heart.

"I though we were your family, Roman."

Cinder, as always, was right- Though Roman hated to admit it this time. His father, Ego, was a horrible murderer who planted cancer in his mother's brain and killed the rest of his children. When he saw how Roman reacted to the truth, the godly being then attempted to chain Roman up as a battery.

The leader of the Guardians was only freed by the intervention of his frien- family, and together they came up with the plan to end Ego the planet for good. The plan wasn't perfect, though- The main flaw being that Roman was required to stay on the planet during its destruction in order to distract his father long enough for the bomb to go off and for everyone else to escape.

Roman Torchwick wasn't ready to die, but he owed as much to each and every member of his family that he'd spurned during his time with his father. Maybe they'd remember his death fondly and later forgive him for his arrogance.

He could only hope.

Starlord and Ego were kneeling across from each other in the center of the planet, having just finished yet another round of godly battling. The bomb in the core of the planet was thirty seconds from exploding, and both of them knew it.

Ego hesitated for a moment, then jumped towards the core. Instantly, Roman was on his father, pulling him back to their platform.

"We need to stop it, you idiot!" The celestial cried in distress. "Don't you get if? You are a god! If you kill me, you'll be just like everyone else!" At this, Roman gave his classic smirk.

"And what's so wrong with that?"

"No-!" The core exploded, and Ego's words were cut in his throat as he dissolved into nothingness in his son's arms.

This chapter has been two months in the making. As always, life got in the way. But its out now, and more chapters should hopefully be on the way soon.

As I have said previously, this is not a full rewrite of Infinity War. However, some reviewers have pointed out that it's not so much RWBY characters doing RWBY things in the Avengers universe, but rather Avengers Characters doing their thing in their own universe. For the most part, I have to concede this point. This story was mainly inspired by all of the Reaction stories popping up nowadays, where the RWBY characters are simply inserted into key scenes in whatever series is up to bat.

I won't deny that this is the case, but I will also say that it's not entirely as Black and White as you may think. For instance, I've already established Iron Man and Captain America's romantic relationship, as with 'Thor' and 'Loki.' Conversely, I have removed Starlord and Gamora's relationship, which we'll see later on. When it comes to writing, I am someone who enjoys adding in small pieces to effect a larger whole. So trust me when I say that things won't go how you think they will. These differences will add up.

Also, I apologize if I skip back into Thanos instead of Salem or any other name like that. I've watched this movie so much that some of the lines just come naturally and I don't even notice.

Until next time,

-RMV