Well I'm back. Did you miss me? Regardless of your answer to the previous, after just over a month of contemplation, I have decided it best to continue my writing as I feel that it keeps my literary skills sharp. Now, this does not mean in any way that I am committing to consistently updating my fics, far from it. But, if there is enough interest I will try and keep chapters coming, albeit slowly at times. With that said, let's get back to the action!

A few notes about "To Build a Rocket" specifically, first, as a sort of apology for my absence, I have written an XL chapter with extra action and dramatic spice for you people out there. Second, the first story arc will be ending soon (within one or two chapters) … and I just saw Black Panther… so, what you would you think of the Guardian's next challenge (between the events of GoTG 1 and 2) being a stealth mission in Wakanda? I'd love to hear your thoughts, as I have only started the preplanning stage for this.

Anyway, let's get going!

Chapter 3 – To Ravage the Kree

Daniel stared down at Rocket, forgetting he wasn't behind his HPS' orange polarized visor, his face conveyed emotion that was seemingly contradictory. Shame was painted all over his face, while his posture conveyed both fear and relaxation at the same time. Looking, into Dan's eyes, something stirred in the brown raccoon, something so deep he wasn't even aware of it. Finally, Daniel collected himself and put back on his damaged helmet, "honestly, my life story isn't that important when there is a goddamn infinity stone in that psychopath's hands, we need to get it back. Now".

"How?" Rocket yelled, "we should get to the other side of the universe, and maybe… MAYBE we'll live full lives".

Better yet, just jump between realities, Daniel thought, remembering when he did that two years ago. His thoughts became cold, flashing back to that very day.

[FLASHBACK]

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Daniel's alarm went off at 05:00 and the metallicized Earth was pitch black, with no streetlamps or any artificial lighting to light the road. Daniel flicked on the lights, noting that they were fully lit rather than dim, something that wouldn't have been possible with him pouring virtually all power generated by the lab's mini-fusion reactor into his makeshift 5D-Jump Gate.

It was a crude way to get around the multiverse, Daniel had to admit. He used to have a more elegant solution, but, that was in his other laboratory across the globe, which, he confirmed to be unshielded, causing everything inside to be destroyed anyway. It was a shame, really, so much work that had gone to waste.

Daniel stepped out of bed, only to see Rocket staring back at him. Daniel stretched and sighed, "today's the day Rocket, nothing left in this universe for us". The Raccoon jumped off the bed, following Daniel down the stairs to his lab. He then flicked on a strange machine, that immediately dispensed a paper cup and started filling it slowly with a certain dark liquid. The raccoon beside him started to moan. "Rocket, remember what I told you, even if the world is falling apart, mornings are always… always for coffee and contemplation". Rocket huffed and silently jumped up on one of the tables, knocking one of the computer terminals beside the gate. Daniel turned at the noise, "rocket!" He admonished, running to the terminal, "this thing happens to have the fifth-dimensional hyper-spacetime coordinates for where we're going… one error is all it takes for us to get trapped somewhere random in the vastness of space, or worse". Quickly doing the calculations in his head he took a glance at the inputted coordinates to make sure they were valid. Everything seems to be in order, Dan thought as he walked over to where he kept his Mark VII combat suit. While he did think wearing it was overkill (he was only planning to jump between Earths after all), life had taught him that one can never be too careful, especially with things involving hyper-quantum physics.

After suiting up and grabbing a pistol from his armory, Dan put on his backpack that he had filled the night prior with supplies, just in case there was some error in the local coordinates… there was always a margin of error when it came to these sorts of things. He looked down to Rocket, who was looking at him with apprehension, "don't worry my little trash-panda," he told Rocket in a soothing voice, "this new Earth much more peaceful than this one had ever been, apparently, there have been no wars on this Earth for over three-hundred years! Can you believe that?"

Daniel honestly couldn't wait, he had spent his life running, exploring, learning, and fighting since he was twelve years old… and he just needed a break, at least for a few years. He put on his helmet, grabbed Rocket and pulled him close to his chest. He then grabbed a chip on the desk that contained all of his research, designs, etc. "Computer," Daniel ordered, standing in the circular gate, "begin jump sequence".

"Affirmative," the mechanized voice droned, "it has been an honor. Setting coordinates to Universe MVRL-30DA3"

MRVL-30DA3? Daniel thought, that's not right…

But it was too late, and with a burst of green energy, the Earth was, for the first time in dozen million years, apparently empty.

Collapsing on the ground, Daniel's body ached everywhere. The floor was a glossy black, the walls were made of a silvery metallic metal, and starships were lined up across the floor. After a few seconds, Dan's universal translator activated and translated a massive sign to his left. It read: HALFWORLD RESEARCH, HANGAR 42. "Freeze!" A voice bellowed behind him. Oh shit, Daniel thought, staggering to his feet with Rocket still in his arms.

[END FLASHBACK]

Snapping himself out of his trance, Daniel looked back down at the furry bounty hunter, only to see that he was still waiting for him to say something. He had to come up with a plan, and a contingency to that plan, and a contingency to that contingency. When dealing with threats, especially this large, rarely does anything go according Plan A. His mind raced from one possible scenario to another, each one becoming more and more probable. Suddenly, he started to realize that every possible plan converges on one thing. Someone was going to have to contain the stone when it was released from Ronan's grasp. I couldn't hold that stone for over a millisecond without being killed in the process, Daniel thought.

The scientist's eyes wondered, unless Star-Lord happens to have some celestial DNA in him, we're royally flarked, though… that guy does have the Ego to match a demigod. His eyes continued to wonder, until they locked onto something.

The spinal-fluid tank, more specifically the spinal-fluid of a celestial.

The cogs churned in Daniel's head. Briskly stepping past Drax, he gazed into tank. On the surface of the murky, yellow liquid, his mirror image stared back behind its orange, cracked visor. He knew that what he was thinking was suicide, but, he saw no other way. Not when Ronan was about to go on a speciescidal rampage. He grabbed a tiny vial out of one of his armor's pockets and collected a sample of the liquid.

SCAN COMPLETE, DNA ISOLATED.

"Computer, connect to the Ottawa and activate the nanite synthesizer," Daniel instructed with a whisper. "Execute DNA-Splice Sequence Omega-2-2-1B".

"What are you doing?" Drax questioned, looking at him suspiciously. Daniel snapped out of his focus and turned around and clasped his arms behind his back, dropping the vial into the tank. "Nothing," he responded flatly. "I am Groot," Groot said. Daniel frowned, his armor computer's translation matrix was having a difficult time making heads or tails of the tree's language. "Save them? How?"

"I am Groot," the tree argued.

"I know they're the only friends we ever had!" Rocket yelled. Those words pierced Daniel's heart like a dagger, but he knew he deserved it… somehow, someway he deserved every word and more. He failed him. "But there's an army of Ravagers around them, and there's only two of us!"

"Three," Drax corrected, wrapping his arm slightly around Groot's neck. Daniel shrugged his shoulders, "I've faced worse before, count me in". Rocket's eyes were wide. He then growled and started kicking the same patch of grass he was kicking before, "Gah! you're making me beat up grass!"

Daniel rolled his eyes at the display, "we have to come up with a plan, NOW". It was at this point when Daniel knew that Rocket was working on something amazing, because his eyes went distant in the same way his did when he was thinking of something genius. A small, almost proud smile curved Dan's lips as he watched the raccoon work out all the details in his head… well, technically his genetically enhanced brain communicating with his CR-1 implant's duotronic processor which then works with the tactical co-processor…

Anyway, Daniel looked at the seconds ticking by in the corner of his HUD. Letting out a deep sigh, he prepped himself incase Rocket came up empty, something he doubted would happen, though, would still be in the realm of possibility. I am not letting this universe go, not like the last one, he thought with determination, even if it takes me to my grave. After a few more moments, Rocket's ears shot up and his eyes sparkled with accomplishment, "I've got a plan". Daniel's eyes narrowed slightly, "I'm listening".

Rocket climbed onto a crate to make himself appear taller. "Okay, listen up, we're basically goin' to get Star-Munch's ship, find the Ravagers, and demand they give 'em up".

Daniel could have sworn he went cross-eyed at that moment, he exhaled deeply, that has got to be the dumbest… wait… Daniel pondered for a few moments. "That could actually work, provided we have some leverage".

Rocket bared his teeth in a smile, it wasn't what anyone could consider a nice smile… more like that smile all the villains have when they're about to reveal their evil plans. "Oh, I have something that will give us a lot of leverage". Daniel's blood ran colder, he did not like the sound of this, nor did he like that smile. Nonetheless, Rocket got off the crate and gestured to everyone to follow him. Daniel followed behind Groot, who was still quite a mystery to him. Yes, he has seen sentient trees before and, yes, he has interacted with them, but, none of them were really mobile. Daniel could immediately that Groot was something different, a new form of life that combines animal and plant characteristics? Such a notion intrigued him to no end.

After briskly walking through the surprisingly quiet streets of Knowhere (everyone probably left after the shooting started), they arrived at the spaceport. He could see his ship from the entrance, as well as the Ravager M-Ship they would be using to rescue Quill… and Gamora. Dan rubbed his head, he had quite a past with Gamora, in fact, she'd been there when he and Rocket had first arrived in this… universe. Daniel struggled to keep that memory from resurfacing, he needed to focus, or everyone in this universe was going to die. He followed the rest of the group into Quill's ship and trailed behind Rocket as he pulled something out something under a pile of wires. A Hadron Enforcer Mk. I, Daniel thought, immediately recognizing the weapon. It was one of his older designs from when he resided in his previous universe. When he had jumped between realities, he made a more compact design, but, he never saw a reason to actually build the prototype, as the same threats that existed in his universe were not present here. "Rocket, how did you invent this?" Dan asked.

The Raccoon stopped what he was doing and looked up to him, "I ain't got time to explain it, you thinking I didn't invent it?" Daniel shook his head, "no I'm not saying that, it's just an impressive feat of engineering being able to harness and weaponize Hadron energy". The Raccoon's ears perked at this, he seemed to be somewhat unnerved that someone had figured out what, let alone how this thing worked. "Yeah, yeah," he brushed off, trying to come up with an insult. "At least I actually invent weapons, what do you do with your spare time? Reading a dictionary?"

Oh, you have no idea, Rocket, Daniel thought somewhat bitterly, no idea. "Tell me when you have figured out the details out your plan," Daniel told Rocket as he walked out of the room. He had no time for banter, being distracted for a minute could be the difference between success and failure, between life and universal annihilation. He leaned against the wall and pulled something up on his HUD. NANITE SYNTHESIS: 89%. Almost there.

"Attention idiots!" Rocket announced proudly over the comms.

Daniel, who had repaired his visor since he boarded the ship fifteen minutes ago, facepalmed at his former companion's negotiation tactics while standing behind him. Ugh, this is never going to work, Daniel thought bitterly.

"The idiot standing atop this craft is holding a Hadron Enforcer, it's a weapon of my own design," Rocket continued, unknowingly stoking the ire of the scientist behind, who muttered something incomprehensible to him. "if you don't hand over our companions now, he's gonna tear your ship a new one! A very big new one!"

"I am giving you to the count of five!"

"Wait, what?" Daniel spoke, looking down at the Raccoon with a stunned face. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Five…"

What the hell?

"Four…"

Daniel's body tensed, and he instinctively placed his hand on his holster, preparing to intervene on the count of two if some miracle didn't happen.

"Three…"

A panicked voice reverberated through the cabin through the comm system, "Rocket, it's me, for God's sakes! We figured it out!"

Daniel's body relaxed, albeit slightly, his hand fell to his side. That was a close one.

"Oh, hey, Quill. What's going on?"

A relieved sigh could be heard over the comms, Daniel rested his head on a nearby bulkhead. He thought about creating new armor that could…

NANITE SYNTHESIS COMPLETE. AWAITING FURTHER COMMAND., streamed across Daniel's HUD with a cheerful 'ding' sound-effect. His heart jumped, a natural self-preservation response, knowing what the message meant. Climbing his way out of the flight-deck, he found a spot where he was sure that nobody was watching. He pressed a few buttons on his armband, causing text to stream down on the left side of his vision. Suddenly, the mechanized voice inside his helmet droned, "MATTER-ENERGY TRANSPORTER Mk. 2 READY. ENERGIZE?"

"Energize," Daniel sighed softly, looking down at the ground behind his visor with depressed eyes. He could feel the ship starting to accelerate towards the Ravager hangar bay, prompting him to move quicker. Out of thin air, a somewhat large, silver metallic box materialized out of thin air with a pleasant blue effect. He bent down and undid the latches that held the lid down and opened the box. The interior was lined with foam, having cut-outs in it specifically for the items it carried. Dominating the box was, in multiple pieces, a long, sniper-rifle looking weapon, next to a somewhat small vial of clear liquid. Grabbing the vial, he held it up to the light, noting the shadows cast by the nanites inside. He grabbed a medical injection device, called a hypospray, and loaded the vial into its bottom. I hope I don't have to use this.

The ship suddenly jerked, indicating to Dan that his time to himself was nearly up. Quickly grabbing its parts, Daniel assembled the long, almost unwieldly weapon. While Daniel almost always used boring, unassuming IDs for things he invented, to be fair, this weapon was officially called the XPR-0, however, Daniel preferred to call it, even in technical documents, as the Infinity Gun. This was because this weapon could only be powered by a potent, near infinite, energy source, beyond Daniel could have dreamt of up to this point. As a result, the project was mothballed, and while Daniel hadn't developed zero-point reactors yet, he had something even greater in mind to light his darkest hour, one that would, almost invariably, kill him. He wouldn't allow another Megatron to win, he just couldn't…

He heard Rocket yell from across the ship, "Daniel! We have to go!"

Locking his trusty phase rifle in the metal container, he magnetically holstered the Infinity Gun onto his armor's back plating and joined Drax, Groot and Rocket in leaving the ship. He thanked his lucky stars that his Mark IX armor was a complete redesign compared to his previous suits, as he recognized a few faces on the way through the Ravager ship's corridors. Finally following Rocket and Groot into a somewhat large, he set his eyes on Quill and Gamora.

"Darth Vader," Daniel called Gamora by the nickname he gave her just after he arrived. Quill perked up at the reference, "how do you know about Vader? What does that have to do with Gamora?"

"I'm Terran, obviously," Daniel sighed with slight annoyance lacing his words, "Gamora and I have… been acquainted for quite some time now". The green woman looked away, perhaps out of irritation… or something else that she simply couldn't process at the time. "Now," Daniel clasped his hands behind his back, walking towards the center of the room.

"What the hell are we going to do now?"

"I figured it out, we're going to get the stone back from Ronan," Quill assured, looking somewhat out of touch with reality. "You call that figured it out?" Rocket asked with a hint of incredulous laughter, "we're going to rob the guys who beat us senseless?" Looking away, Daniel muttered something under his breath and walked out of the circle they were all apparently now sitting on the perimeter of. While casually getting the gist of what they were saying, which wasn't much given the tone of their voices, Daniel contemplated what he was doing. His armor was, to say the least, antiquated. Even compared to his old revisions of the Human Protection System Armor, such as the Mark VII that he left his reality with, his armor was inferior. Given the circumstances of its creation, being something, Daniel slapped together using spare parts in the Nova's basement, it is quite impressive… and although he does have his designs for its successor, the HPS armor Mark X, he just hadn't been up to building it.

He refocused his attention back onto the group, who appeared to have settled down. Rocket had that look on his face again, and the rest of the group was deep in thought. Best not disturb them, Daniel reasoned, if they succeed, maybe I don't have to die. Hand brushing over the solution in his pocket, his mind wandered.

[FLASHBACK]

Daniel laid against an old, scuffed up metal wall. His cell was cramped, with his feet almost touching the other side in his position. A light blue forcefield of some kind kept him from escaping. They stripped him of all his possessions, including his flash drive containing all of his research, and threw him in this place. They'd also separated Dan from Rocket, something he really didn't appreciate, not knowing what was happening to him.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the force field fizzled away with a sharp hiss. His gaze slowly turned to see a woman with green skin, flanked by two reptilian guards. She looked at the guards and gestured something to them. They nodded their heads and dragged Daniel to his feet. "Where are we going?" Daniel asked with irritation lacing his voice. "Silence, terran," the green woman snapped. They walked down endless corridors, each seeming more haunting than the next. The walls were a clinical white, while the floors remained a deathly, glossy, ebony color.

Turning to a door on the left, they reached their destination. One of the guards opened the door and they pushed Daniel inside. The room was cramped with nothing in it other than a small, rectangular table with two chairs at each end. Sitting opposite to Daniel was a middle-age looking man, who looked… human?

The guards forced Dan into his seat opposite to the man, who was studying him curiously. "I apologize," the man started in a conciliatory tone, "tact is not one of the Chitauri's strong suits".

"What is this place?" Daniel asked, confused. The man across from him grinned, but, before he could answer, Daniel raised his arms. "Look, I completely understand your reaction, some weird person randomly appears out of nowhere in your facility-"

"It's alright," the man chuckled, "you are an extremely intriguing character, Mr. Flynn. You're a multi-universal traveler, hopping between universes for the fun of it, developing new technologies that I must say, are impressive even by our standards…"

Daniel's breath hitched, he did not expect his interrogator to know this much, "hold on, where'd you…" Chuckling the man cut him off, "you really need to update your encryption, your algorithm is quite dated".

Shit, they have access to my files.

"Mr. Flynn, the answer you give in response to my next question will greatly determine how we proceed with all this…" the man droned. Daniel perked up, listening to his next words carefully. The man leaned forward and said, "allow me to introduce myself, my name is Krunt Fallapadax, I am the Director of this facility. In our universe, we are on the cutting edge of various scientific disciplines; however, after reviewing the content on your data drive, we were blown away with your technical talent. For this reason, I'd like to formally invite you to join our team in advancing life as we know it today".

Daniel was caught off guard by the offer. "U-uh, you flatter me, but, I barely know anything about Halfworld research… what you're studying, what your inten…"

"All of that can be explained later," Krunt laughed half-heartedly, "but, I need to know, do you accept?"

Dan smiled. Krunt had cornered him, and he did have to admit that the prospect of working at an alien research institution once again was appealing. He owed a lot to alien science and education when it came to his own discoveries and designs. Acting on impulse alone, he said, "I accept provisionally".

Krunt's face soured slightly at the word provisionally, but, he covered it up with a friendly smile. "Of course, we aren't going to force you to make up your mind just yet". At that moment, Daniel could sense something was wrong, but, he didn't bring it up, rather, he asked, "I came here with a small, brown furry creature, do you know what happened to him?"

"Rocket is in good health, we're running… medical tests on him to ensure he isn't… carrying any infectious diseases before we allow him to…" the Director paused to consider his word choice.

"Participate in other activities we have planned".

[END FLASHBACK]

Checking that his plasma pistol were fully loaded, Daniel looked up towards the 'team'. They'd already discussed the plans with Yondu, and, with his greenlight, were heading to their assigned posts. Since he had the most experience, Daniel volunteered to contact the Nova High Command directly with his access codes. He gritted his teeth as the agonizing seconds went by, praying someone… someone would answer on the other end. Finally, a low-level corpsman appeared on his screen. "Daniel Flynn," he acknowledged in a somewhat abrupt tone, "we have no assignments for you, what do you want?"

"Listen to me," Daniel said in hushed yet urgent tone, "I need to speak to Nova Prime immediately, this is urg-"

"Nova Prime is a very busy woman Mr. Flynn," the corpsman said condescendingly, "even with your past dealings with her, I'm afraid I can't-"

"Corpsman, I'm sure you wouldn't want to explain to Nova High Command your inability to pass on vital information regarding an Infinity Stone in Ronan's possession heading straight to Xandar".

The corpsman's eyes bulged, and he started to noticeably tremble at the words Daniel uttered. "Uhh, I can patch you through… right away!"

Suddenly, Daniel's HUD went blank once again, although, the Nova Corps did add some lovely elevator music to pass the. He looked up to see Quill, who was motioning to him to get moving. "I'm on hold!" Daniel grunted in frustration. Finally, after what seemed like a millennium, Nova Prime answered. "Hello Daniel," she said with a somewhat friendly voice, "I must say your call is unexpected".

"Listen," Daniel started, dispensing with any pleasantries off the bat. "Ronan has the purple Infinity Stone and is making a B-Line for Xandar as we speak. I've got these guys here… a bunch of Ravagers and some convicts of your who I genuinely believe want to help".

Nova Prime looked away to someone else, who was obviously filling her in on some information, "can these people… be trusted?" Quill whispered something in Daniel's ears, which he then parroted to Nova Prime, "Peter Quill, one of the individuals wanting to help, says 'he's an a-hole, but, not 100% a dick'. I'll send you a complete list of… our help… momentarily, Flynn out".

Daniel closed the connection and looked up to Quill, who was slightly taller than himself. "Nice line," he said, walking past him towards the Milano. His mouth tugged up in a small smile, once again being impressed by Rocket's tactical and strategic abilities, even amongst impossible odds. It might actually work, Daniel thought in reference to Rocket's plan, climbing into the Milano's flight deck and sitting in one of the passenger seats. However, in the back of his mind, he knew that his contingency was still there… waiting in his pocket.

That's what terrified him so much.

After flying through hell, Daniel was not exactly excited to start fighting once again. Gripping his plasma pistol, he followed the rest of the guardians out of the Milano, which, had crash landed right in Ronan's flagship as planned. While his visor did have night vision, the rest of his teammates did not. Cursing to himself for not thinking of bringing some form of light for the others, he thought of something to help them see. However, before he could actually do anything, Groot lit the way with what Daniel could only describe as a sort of flowery, fluorescent, floating, yellow spore. "Incredible," Daniel breathed as his night vision compensated for the extra light. "The flight deck is three-hundred meters this way," Gamora said, slowly starting to walk forward.

"I want you all to know that I am grateful for your acceptance after my blunders," Drax started, "it is pleasing to once again have… friends". For a brief moment, Daniel had felt a spark of a warmth in his chest. He brushed it off as a fluke, since, he hadn't really felt warmth since that day Rocket was taken from him. Ever since then, he'd been sort of… dead inside.

"And this whor-"

"Oh, you must STOP!" Gamora yelled, turning back to the muscular man with disdain in her eyes. Before anyone else could respond, Nebula jumped down from seemingly nowhere. "Gamora, look at what you have done. You have always been weak… you stupid… traitorous-"

Before Nebula could complete her sentence, a rocket straight from Drax's rocket launcher impaled her side and sent the blue cyborg flying. "Nobody talks about my friend's like that".

Dan felt it again.

"Head to the flight deck. I'll shut down the power to disable the security doors".

"On it. Good luck!" Daniel nodded as he moved with the rest of the group. They ran through cooridor after corridor, until finally, they came face to face with their enemies.

"Star-Lord," Korath breathed, anticipating the imminent fight. Daniel rolled his eyes, just giving into his fantasies.

"Finally," Quill grinned, just before getting thrown across the room by his opponent. Daniel pulled his plasma pistol out and filled the nearest three sakaarans with violet bolts. One of them got a bit close for his liking, so he slit the insect's throat with his armor's integrated blade. "You will never make it Ronan," Korath assured, looking down upon Quill a few meters to Daniel's side.

"That's quite the declaration," Daniel pointed out, filling another batch of sakaarans full of plasma.

One of the insectoids managed to get behind him and put him in a chokehold, but, Groot intervened and threw the pest away. "Thanks," Daniel gasped, resuming his killing spree.

Around a minute into the fight, everything seemed to quiet down. Daniel looked over to see Drax having Korath in a death grip. Standing back, he watched as Drax explained what the meaning of a common Earth symbol meant, before ripping out a large chunk of an implant from Korath's head. "Metaphor".

"Sort of" "Somewhat", Daniel and Quill said at the same time.

"Oh no," Quill blurted. Daniel looked over to see what his new comrade was talking about. Dozens of sakaaran soldiers swarmed the hall in front of them. Daniel dove for cover to reload his weapon, but, found that by the time he had done so, his enemies had experienced death by tree branch…

"Let's move," Dan commanded, running ahead. After a few steps, he felt the ship lurch slightly, "we don't have long," he noted.

Running up the final corridor, they were confronted with the security door that Gamora had supposed to have unlocked already. Sakaaran guards poured out from ever crevasse, forcing Daniel and the rest of the group to unload nearly everything they had on them. After another minute of constant fighting, the security door opened. Quill unfolded Rocket's Hadron Enforcer and ran into the throne room.

Time slowed to a crawl. Daniel's senses were heightened even beyond the enhancements his suit automatically granted him. His attention was focused on Ronan's eyes, which, burned a sickly shade of purple. It was at this moment that he knew they were too late. He saw the Hadron Enforcer fire its shell straight at Ronan's chestplate, which, under any other circumstance, would have atomized him instantly.

"We did it!" Drax said victoriously. "Not so fast," Daniel replied, his HUD instantly drawing an outline of Ronan through the smoke. The group's smile fell as they saw the Kree stand up tall once again, with only a hole in his armor. The Kree twisted his hammer, sending a shockwave sending the entire group flying backwards. This might be it, Daniel thought, the nanite solution in his pocket. Drax ran up and attempted to fight Ronan, but, just ended up in a chokehold like what happened back on Knowhere.

Let's get this done and over with, Daniel mentally sighed, starting to reach for his pocket.

Unexpectedly, out of nowhere, a Ravager M-Ship crashed through the large window overlooking Xandar and plowed right through Ronan and Drax. As a result, Ronan's flagship immediately lost power and started to plunge to the ground. Not being hit by the ship, Daniel got up and assessed the damage. The M-Ship was totaled, obviously, but, there may have been survivors. He ran up to the ship and looked in the cockpit, only to find Rocket unconscious. His HUD's sensor suite confirmed he was still alive. Using his integrated wrist-mounted blade, he cut through Rocket's seatbelt and carried him to where the others were. Doing a few rough calculations in his head, it was clear he wasn't going to survive… but maybe Rocket could. But, before he could do anything heroic, Groot started to literally surround the group. Looking up, Daniel's jaw was agape, that could work.

"Thank you, Groot," Daniel ruefully mumbled. He knew that this action was a one-way trip for the tree, and that he was knowingly sacrificing himself for everyone else. Rocket awoke in Dan's arms, delirious. After a few seconds, the cocoon Groot had constructed with his own body surrounded the group completely. The tree filled the space with the floating lights that he had lit the way earlier with. Rocket, becoming fully aware of his environment looked up to Groot. "No, Groot, you can't… you'll die. Why are you doing this?"

"We are Groot".

Then everything went to shit.

I could go into excruciating detail about what happened to Groot, Daniel did witness it first hand, but, I think I'll just cut that out for now.

[FLASHBACK]

The facility was, at least, clean. Other than that, Daniel had no idea what was going on. It had already been a day and still Rocket wasn't returned to him. They'd already returned his clothes, his technology (excluding his weapons) and placed him in living quarters that were quite the upgrade from the cramped, dusty cell they gave him earlier.

Daniel heard a chime from the door. Getting up, he wasn't quite prepared to leave, still having his HPS Mark VII suit's bodyglove on. After pressing a button, the door slid open, revealing the green woman he saw earlier. "You're expected in the test chamber in fifteen minutes," she said. Daniel looked at her quizzically, "what are we even testing?" The lady ignored him and simply walked away, locking the door behind her. "Fine, whatever then". Walking back to his bag, he stripped off the bullet / energon resistant bodyglove and hung it on his chair.

After getting washed and fully dressed, he walked towards the door. He was clad in his standard white lab coat, buttoned up with his standard navy-blue tie and white dress shirt. The lab coat itself was made of polycarbonate atomic mesh which was much lighter and stronger than your average standard issue lab coat, it was useful when being constantly surrounded by alien science. Sighing, he stood in front of the door, waiting for the green lady to come back and take him to wherever he needed to be. He checked his coat's pockets for anything that could be missing. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he pulled a tablet-like device out of one of his large, inner pockets and checked the time. She should be here any second, he thought. Suddenly, the tablet pinged, indicating he'd received a message.

"From Ottawa to the stars".

Daniel froze. That specific code phrase was used by only one person.

Himself.

He typed, giving the correct reply, "and beyond; to the realities of dreams!".

Pressing send, he anxiously awaited a reply. He tried to trace the message, but, came up empty on that front. The signal appeared to be rerouting itself through Halfworld's communications system, making it impossible to track the source from his location. Maybe this is just some joke the scientists are playing on me, Daniel reasoned, but how would they know the code?

After a few seconds, the door whooshed open, and, once again, the green lady stood, waiting for Daniel to start moving. "Lead the way," Daniel said, putting his tablet back into his pocket. They walked down the corridor, passing numerous labs and other facilities along the way. Daniel noted the stark aesthetic of the place, with the walls being bleached a clinical white, contrasted by the dull, grey floor. Personnel he saw in the hallway all wore grey outfits not unlike the one Dan was wearing.

Finally arriving at where they needed to be, the green lady shepherded Daniel into a room and locked the door behind them. Daniel could immediately tell that they were in an observation area behind a one-way mirror. How? The room was very dimly lit, with light streaming through the windows into a laboratory of some kind, hence, one-way mirror. There were over a dozen people observing what was happening on the other side. Raising a brow, Daniel walked over to see what was going on. Lying on a bench, partially surrounded by more scientists, was a duck. It appeared to be unconscious, but, just as Daniel laid eyes upon it, he awoke. Instead of mindlessly flapping around in fear, he stayed still, observing the creatures that were watching him. It twitched its wings, seemingly random at first, however, after a few moments of observation, it became clear to Daniel that this wasn't some random muscle spasm.

It was Morse code.

Narrowing his eyes, he paid attention to every minute twitch the animal made. After a just over a minute, a message seemingly formed: MY NAME IS HOWARD. He almost pressed his nose to the glass and squinted, revealing a faint scar on the back of the duck's skull. Son of a bitch, Daniel thought, looking at the creature in dismay, what have they done to you? Wearing a scowl, Daniel looked around the room, trying to figure out who the hell was in charge of this circus. After a few seconds of scanning, his gaze locked to a certain humanoid standing near the opposite side of the room. Marching over with tempered anger, he asked, "Director Fallapadax, I would like to know what exactly is going on here". The director paused the conversation he was having and smiled broadly, "we're celebrating your work, Daniel. Subject 89P05 here has been implanted with many of the augmentations detailed in your files regarding the R-Series-"

Daniel stepped forward, his frown only deepening, "I understand that you are curious, but, where I come from we have ethical standards. You do not give a being life just to simply throw it away". The director raised a brow, "who said anything about throwing this marvelous creation away? It's not like we aren't going to attempt to complete him".

"What do you mean, complete him?" Daniel questioned, "you have already fragrantly disregarded my drafts for the R-Series Cyborg specs… if you attempt to go any further with this, the subject will be in immeasurable pain once…"

The director put on a diplomatic smile and wryly replied, "I am afraid that is where we would disagree, we have certain… testing protocols that have to be adhered to". Another scientist came over and whispered something into his ear. "I have to get to another chamber now. So many experiments, so little time… I'm sure you can understand". Daniel opened his mouth, but ultimately just furrowed his brow as he watched the other scientist escort the Director out of the chamber. His eyes refocused on the subject, who was now unconscious, lying on the table. After a few moments, a scientist came out of nowhere behind the glass and injected something, presumably cortisol, into the subject's neck, causing him to awake. They attached a device to the duck's neck that pulsated blue.

"My name is Howard," the duck spoke through the device. Suddenly, a scientist violently jabbed him with an electric baton. "Incorrect response, your designation is now 89P05". Daniel's jaw dropped as he watched the bird attempt to flail helplessly, only stopped by the restraints that kept him tied to the chair. He turned to look at the scientists who were behind him a few moments ago but saw that they'd already vanished. The only soul left was that of the green lady, who stood stoically at guard beside the door. Briskly walking towards the door, Daniel was about to open the door before the green lady stood in front of him, blocking his exit. "Let me out," Daniel ordered, "I cannot allow this to continue!" The lady simply gave him a blank stare. Daniel glared into her eyes, "what's your name anyway, hm? Do you even have one, or are you just another product of this facility?"

Nevertheless, the green lady didn't twitch. Daniel's expression changed from that of pure horror and rage to that of silent contemplation. He knew that even if he could defeat the green lady, this base must've been crawling with various security personnel, and, logically, it would be more advantageous to go along with this abomination of science, just long enough to figure out the motives involved and how to stop it. Completely changing his tact and suppressing all emotion, he calmly walked toward the two-way glass and observed the surgeries that had just begun on the subject. After a few moments, he slightly turned to the green lady and said, "I do need a name to call you".

Again, the lady didn't even as much as give eye contact. "Fine then, I'll call you Vader. You seem like quite the Vader-y type".