At a glance, the planet clearly possessed a complete atmosphere.
Cloud layers, continents, and oceans were all plainly visible.
In truth, life-bearing planets were countless throughout the galaxy. The Milky Way was simply too vast. Intelligent civilizations were everywhere, and habitable worlds were equally abundant.
At the rear hatch of the ship, Tony's body was tightly magnetized to the wall by his nanotech armor like a giant magnet.
Meanwhile, Drax clung onto him without the slightest dignity.
Since there was nowhere to secure himself, the two looked utterly ridiculous.
Carl, on the other hand, was holding Wanda in his arms.
The pair were encased within a thick layer of solid ice, like sculptures frozen inside a glacier.
Yet the freezing temperature didn't affect them in the slightest because Carl himself had created the ice.
The massive block had frozen itself firmly to the floor of the ship.
Despite the violent shaking of the crashing vessel, the two of them felt nothing at all, and the ice itself remained perfectly intact without a single crack.
"I wonder how Gwen and Skye are doing… I'm worried about them…"
Inside the ice, Wanda spoke through telepathy.
"Don't worry. They'll be fine."
Carl comforted her.
And honestly, he really wasn't worried.
He knew exactly what the two girls were capable of.
With Gwen's agility and spider-sense, as long as she stayed focused she could avoid nearly any threat.
As for Skye, under the current circumstances her vibration powers would actually be extremely effective.
If she wanted to, she could probably shatter the ship itself.
The vessel tore through the atmosphere at terrifying speed.
Because its shields had failed, multiple sections of the ship were already on fire, while the outer metal plating was continuously ripped away by the airflow.
"Brace yourselves! We're landing!!"
Rocket shouted.
The ship slammed headfirst into a vast forest.
Countless trees were flattened in its wake, and the ground itself was plowed apart.
After nearly a full minute of violent sliding, the ship finally came to a stop.
At this point, however, it was essentially totaled.
Near the rear hatch, Tony was still plastered against the wall—
Then the wall behind him finally gave way with a loud crash.
Drax, who had been holding onto him, fell directly on top of him.
"Come on, buddy. I already have a girlfriend and I'm not looking to switch anytime soon. Also, my orientation is perfectly normal, so can you get the hell off me?!"
Tony's voice rang out through the suit's electronic filter.
Only then did Drax realize what had happened and slowly climb off him.
Crack—!
A series of cracking sounds suddenly echoed behind them.
Carl walked out from the shattered ice while carrying Wanda.
Neither of them even had the slightest trace of cold on their bodies.
At the same time, the others crawled out from the wreckage one by one, all covered in soot and dirt.
Gwen had even activated her nanotech suit.
"Where's Skye?"
Gwen looked toward Carl and Wanda and immediately asked.
Suddenly—
BOOM!
The left wing of the ship exploded open with a massive hole.
The already unstable wing snapped apart instantly as Skye jumped out from inside.
"No! My ship! My baby!!"
Quill wailed dramatically as he ran toward what remained of his ship—
Or rather, the half that was still left.
He bent over miserably, inspecting the damage with pure heartbreak written across his face.
"Quill, what are you looking at? The ship's already become a pile of scrap metal! Hahahaha!!"
Drax walked over and wrapped an arm around Quill's shoulders before bursting into loud laughter.
The murderous look in Quill's eyes could no longer be hidden.
Right now, he genuinely wanted to pull out a gun and shoot the bastard.
Nearby in the wreckage, Gamora and Nebula shoved aside a massive piece of twisted metal and climbed out, both looking filthy.
"Look at the mess you idiots caused!!"
Gamora stormed over and immediately started unloading on them.
Behind her, Nebula looked completely stunned.
She had never seen her sister this utterly furious before.
"What does this have to do with me?! It's all because Rocket stole those stupid batteries!"
Quill finally snapped as well and immediately redirected the blame toward Rocket.
"They're called dumbass batteries."
Drax added fuel to the fire.
"Why the hell are you people still talking about batteries?! Some tiny little guy instantly wiped out all those drone ships earlier!"
Rocket finally exploded too.
Was liking to steal stuff really enough reason to pin everything on him?!
"They're always like this?"
Tony walked over beside Carl and nudged him with his shoulder.
"This is how they bond."
Carl had long since gotten used to it.
"Relax. They won't actually start fighting."
These idiots were always complaining about each other and acting like they couldn't stand one another.
But when things truly mattered, they'd still entrust their backs and lives to each other without hesitation.
"A little guy? How little?"
Quill immediately changed the subject.
Everyone's attention instantly shifted to the "little man" Rocket mentioned, as if the previous argument had never happened.
"I dunno. About this small?"
Rocket gestured with his thumb and index finger.
That particular hand gesture would instantly lose him the Korean market.
"You're saying a one-inch-tall little guy saved us?"
Even Gamora looked speechless.
Among the Guardians, she was probably the closest thing to a normal person.
"More or less. If he got closer he probably would've looked bigger…"
Rocket genuinely sounded unsure whether the crash had damaged his brain.
"That's called perspective, you dumb raccoon."
Quill immediately stabbed him with that remark.
Rocket's fur instantly stood on end.
"DON'T CALL ME A RACCOON!!"
Quill rolled his eyes.
"Alright, fine. That was my mistake."
Then he suddenly changed tone.
"I should've called you a trash raccoon instead."
Rocket froze before turning toward Drax and Gamora.
"What does that mean? Is that supposed to sound better?"
Drax answered seriously.
"I don't know."
Nearby, Nebula looked like she wanted to smash her own head into something.
What kind of freaks am I traveling with?
Will my IQ start dropping too if I stay around them long enough?
At that moment, Gwen suddenly noticed something approaching in the distance.
"Something's flying over here… Is that a boiled egg?"
Everyone immediately followed her gaze.
Sure enough, a white oval-shaped spacecraft descended from the sky.
The group instantly drew their weapons and stood alert.
Tony even deployed the floating cannons behind him.
"You people should untie me already. You need my help."
Nebula suddenly spoke up.
Gamora didn't even look at her.
"Do I look stupid to you, Nebula?"
The group instinctively formed a defensive circle.
Even Nebula silently joined them.
"I bet it's the one-inch little guy."
Drax stared at the descending egg-shaped ship overhead.
Soon, the ship landed completely.
The hatch opened.
A man and a woman stepped out.
The woman wore dark green clothing, had long black hair, black eyes, and a pair of antennae on her head.
The man, meanwhile, had graying hair and a beard and looked no different from a human from Earth.
Among everyone present, only Carl knew the truth.
That man was Quill's father.
The planet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 20 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~