"Hey! The famous Star-Lord. I've been looking for you for a long time, and now I've finally found you. I never imagined my son would already have turned out this impressive."
On a lush green world, the stylish older man who had been riding a ship with his body exposed to the vacuum of space now stood on the damp ground, looking at Star-Lord with excitement as he opened his arms.
"What? You've finally met your biological father, and you're not even going to give me one of those heartfelt father-son reunion hugs?"
The older man looked at Star-Lord's conflicted expression, wearing the warm smile of a loving father.
"You're my father?"
"My real father?"
Star-Lord raised a brow, his eyes full of suspicion as he looked at this cool-as-hell older man.
Deep down, Star-Lord did have a strange feeling that the man in front of him really might be his father, but...
Right now, everything felt unreal. Mostly because he had already gotten used to life without a father. Then all of a sudden, this handsome older guy showed up claiming to be his biological dad. It left him completely stunned.
Looking at the man, Star-Lord couldn't help thinking that if his father really looked like Kurt Russell, his childhood probably would have been amazing, and he definitely would have grown up even more confident than he already was...
Okay, maybe not more confident. At that point it would just become too much.
"My God, that really is Star-Lord's father?"
Rocket Raccoon stared at the older man, who was clearly up there in years but still radiated undeniable charm, and muttered in disbelief.
"Damn it, I should've taken that bet with Star-Lord. That old guy is obviously a total heartthrob."
Rocket was already regretting it. If he'd taken the bet, it would have been easy money.
"Uh, Father, are you a god?"
After hearing Rocket muttering to himself, Star-Lord suddenly remembered something. Because he had finally met his father, he had completely forgotten about the bet with Jovian. Now that Rocket had brought it back to mind, Star-Lord immediately turned to the father he'd known for all of three seconds and asked the question.
"Of course, my son. Of course I'm a Celestial. I'm surprised you already know what I am."
The older man who claimed to be Star-Lord's father answered without the slightest hesitation and openly admitted it.
"Pff..."
"Hahahahaha..."
"Hahahahaha..."
"Oh, this is too good. Star-Lord, that means you lost."
The moment Rocket heard the man admit that he really was a Celestial, he burst into laughter.
Because that meant the loudmouthed Star-Lord had actually lost a bet. That was news. Wonderful news. It meant Star-Lord had to honor the deal and collect all six Infinity Stones across the vast universe for Jovian.
As if that were even possible. Gathering all six Infinity Stones was the kind of thing even the Mad Titan Thanos obsessed over.
And as for how powerful those Stones were...
The Guardians already knew perfectly well from their run-in with Ronan.
That was not power any ordinary being was meant to control. Sooner or later, it would bring disaster.
"Tch."
Star-Lord clicked his tongue in irritation, but he couldn't really argue, because Rocket was right. He had lost that bet.
Still, he wasn't worried. Yes, he had agreed that if he lost, he would collect all six Infinity Stones for Jovian, but he had never said when he would do it. That part was entirely up to him. He could always get around to it whenever he felt like it.
"Let's get one thing straight. I did lose the bet, but I never said when I'd collect all six Infinity Stones for you, so..."
Star-Lord raised a brow at Jovian and said exactly what was on his mind right to his face.
"Scumbag."
Gamora shot Star-Lord a sidelong glance, chin lifted, looking at him like he was trash.
"Yeah, definitely a scumbag."
Rocket gave Star-Lord the same contemptuous look.
"Star-Lord, you really are pathetic."
After hearing Star-Lord's excuse, Drax shouted angrily, as if Star-Lord had dropped several ranks in his eyes and was now just about on the same level as the kind of soft pretty boys he couldn't stand.
"Hey, come on, guys, do you have to do this?"
Star-Lord looked at his friends helplessly. He knew what he'd done today was, admittedly, not exactly honorable.
"I'm Groot!"
Little Groot, who had climbed onto Rocket's head, pointed at Star-Lord and shouted.
"Hey, wait..."
"Groot, did you just swear?"
"Seriously? You're still a kid. Kids shouldn't be swearing."
"Besides, a guy like that isn't worth cursing over."
Rocket plucked Groot off his head and loudly scolded him.
"Hey, don't take advantage of the fact that I don't speak Groot. What did he actually say?"
"I know Groot would never talk about me like that."
Star-Lord frowned. He refused to believe kindhearted Groot would say anything bad about him.
"My God, Star-Lord, you really have no idea how bad your reputation is, do you?"
"Nebula, what's your opinion of Star-Lord as a person?"
Rocket rummaged through the absurdly useful backpack on his back, pulled out a microphone, and held it up to Nebula's mouth.
"Heh, ptui."
Faced with Rocket's question, Nebula said nothing at all and simply spat.
"Hey, even you look down on me? You're just a prisoner."
Star-Lord felt insulted. He could put up with everyone else looking down on him, but even Nebula? That actually made him angry.
"A daughter of Thanos would never respect a spineless coward who won't honor his own promise."
Even as a prisoner, Nebula still lifted her chin proudly. She fixed Star-Lord with a sharp stare and spoke in a tone dripping with disdain.
"Hey."
Star-Lord felt his temper rising, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"It's fine, Star-Lord. I'm not in a hurry. I'm sure one day you'll gather all six Infinity Stones. And when that day comes, I'll appear in front of you and take those six Stones."
Just when Star-Lord was feeling like the entire universe had abandoned him, Jovian, who had been watching the show the whole time, finally spoke up. The moment he did, he threw Star-Lord a lifeline, though there was something oddly meaningful in the way he looked at him.
"Jovian, my brother!"
Star-Lord looked at Jovian with genuine emotion in his eyes, then turned angrily toward Rocket and the others.
"Listen to that. Listen carefully. That's what a real brother says. That's what real trust between brothers looks like. That's what a true friend of mine should do. Compared to him, the rest of you are honestly disappointing."
"Hmph."
Gamora let out a cold snort after hearing Star-Lord's nonsense.
"Uh, I wasn't talking about you, Gamora. You didn't do anything wrong. Rocket and Drax are the ones at fault here."
The lifelong simp instantly changed his tune the second he heard Gamora's little snort, shoving all the blame onto Rocket and Drax instead.
"I want to slap him."
Drax stared at Star-Lord expressionlessly and stated his anger as plainly as possible.
"Just bear with it. It's not like we met him yesterday. Look at that smug little grin. His time will come."
Rocket ground his teeth as he stared at Star-Lord. It wasn't that he wasn't going to settle the score, it was just that the right moment hadn't arrived yet.
"I'm Groot!"
Groot was absolutely right...
"Hahahaha..."
"Son, you really do have some wonderful friends."
At that moment, Star-Lord's father suddenly burst out laughing.
"Come on, come visit my planet. Let your friends take a little vacation while they're at it and get some real rest."
Star-Lord's father extended the invitation to all of them.
"You have a planet?"
Star-Lord had not expected his father to be that wealthy, wealthy enough to own an entire planet.
"My planet isn't that big, but it's rich enough. You're all welcome to come take a look."
Star-Lord's father spoke with remarkable modesty.
"So... should we go check it out?"
Star-Lord looked at his teammates and made the suggestion.
"Heh, what's there to see on some remote planet? I think we should take Nebula to Xandar and collect the bounty as soon as possible."
Rocket clearly had no intention of going to Star-Lord's father's planet. Mostly because he didn't want to spend the whole trip staring at Star-Lord's unbearably smug face.
Just imagining Star-Lord acting all proud and self-satisfied made Rocket annoyed already.
"Come on, little raccoon, go with us and take a look."
"After all, that's your good buddy Star-Lord's planet. Once we're there, won't you be free to grab whatever treasure you want, and as much of it as you want?"
Jovian looked at stubborn Rocket and smiled.
"Uh..."
Rocket fell silent after hearing that, because he knew Jovian was absolutely right. Just like Jovian said, he could absolutely use his status as Star-Lord's best pal to fleece Star-Lord's father's planet for everything it was worth.
Rocket had already decided that even if he had to strip the entire surface bare, he was going to haul off every valuable thing that planet had.
"Heh heh heh..."
Rocket looked at Star-Lord with a deeply sleazy grin and let out a revolting little laugh.
"We're the best of friends, dear Mr. Star-Lord."
He greeted Star-Lord in the most affected voice possible.
"Uh..."
"That's disgusting."
Star-Lord raised a brow as he looked at Rocket's nauseating smile and felt a chill run through him.
"Hahaha, come on then, little bunny."
"If you want to come, then come."
Star-Lord's father walked over to Rocket and gently rubbed his head.
"..."
Rocket stared at Star-Lord's father in shock. In that moment, he finally understood why Star-Lord always acted like such an idiot.
Calling him a raccoon or even a panda knockoff was one thing, but a rabbit? No, that was too much.
"I..."
Just as Rocket was about to launch into a sharp correction about the fact that he was absolutely not a rabbit, something occurred to him. Star-Lord's idiot father was a Celestial from some backwater planet, which meant he was basically a loaded local tycoon. That meant Rocket Raccoon really might be able to squeeze quite a few benefits out of him.
"Heh..."
In the end, Rocket just smiled and swallowed the insult to his species with great restraint.
"Everyone, come with me. Board my ship."
Star-Lord's father waved for everyone to follow.
"Dad, we already have a ship."
Star-Lord couldn't help pointing that out.
"It doesn't matter."
With a casual wave of his hand, Star-Lord's kindly father caused two chains to shoot out from his golden ship and latch onto the ship behind them.
"There. That solves it. Come on."
Only after giving the attached junk ship a satisfied glance did Star-Lord's father gesture for everyone to follow him.
"Let's go. Time to visit my dad's planet."
Star-Lord puffed out his chest and followed right behind his father, clearly thrilled. After all, this was technically family property. In a way, you could even say it was his property too.
"Come on."
The others looked at one another, then boarded the golden ship together.
"Now let me take us to my planet."
Under Star-Lord's father's control, the ship slowly lifted off and headed toward his planet...
No, more accurately, it shouldn't really be called Star-Lord's father's planet.
It would be more correct to say that planet was Star-Lord's father's true body.
Ego, the living planet.
Unlike the comics version, where Ego was an experimental lifeform created for amusement by the Stranger, the MCU version of Ego was not some experiment at all, but a member of the Celestials. There were claims that Ego was the evolved remains of a Celestial who died in the early days of the universe, with only the brain left behind to develop over countless years.
Of course, none of that mattered to Jovian.
He didn't care what Ego's identity was. He only cared about Ego's abilities. The movie version of Ego possessed the kind of power that could help Jovian take a major step forward onto a much higher level.
Boom!
After the ship entered a space-time corridor and endured a series of violent jolts, it finally arrived at a breathtakingly beautiful planet.
"Welcome to my planet!"
After the ship reached his true body, Ego turned around and addressed everyone with the warm, fatherly face he had been wearing.
Before anyone could react, a blur shot past them from behind and slammed into Ego, driving him straight through the ship's glass and down onto the beautiful planet below.
"What the fuck?!"
Everyone inside the ship stared at the scene in total shock, eyes wide.
"Star-Lord, unless I'm seeing things, your dad just blew up."
Rocket rubbed his tiny eyes, then tilted his head toward Star-Lord as he spoke.
"Shut up!"
Star-Lord shot Rocket a vicious glare, then stepped toward the gaping hole in the ship and looked down at the two figures on the ground below, where waves of force were exploding outward.
"Damn it, what the hell just happened?"
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