ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ | ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ʙᴀᴛᴛᴇʀɪᴇs

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THE SOVEREIGN
M49 5IOL339P21+H9LNI31

LEXI READJUSTED HER GRIP ON HER GUN. One of Rocket's many creations. An impatient huff escaped her lips, and her hand reaching up to scratch her collarbone underneath the vest she—along with the rest of the team—was wearing.

"Showtime, a-holes!"

Lexi looked up to watch Peter hold a small white device in his hand, as he studied the swirling clouds above. The device gave a rhythmic beep.

"It's gonna be here any minute."

"Which will be its loss." the cocking of a gun made him look over to Gamora, who also held one of Rocket's large guns.

"I thought your thing was a sword?"

"We've been hired to stop an interdimensional beast from feeding on those batteries, and I'm gonna stop it with a sword?" Gamora riposted, raising her eyebrows.

"It's just that swords were your thing, and guns were mine...but, I guess we're both doing guns now. I just didn't know that." Peter said, looking up again and pursing his lips.

Lexi rolled her eyes, continuing to itch her collarbone before her eyes landed on a shirtless Drax. "Drax, why aren't you wearing one of Rocket's aero-rigs?"

Drax turned his body to look at her briefly. "It hurts."

"Hurts?" Gamora pressed, leaning her head forward.

Drax hesitated to answer. "I have sensitive nipples."

A yelp of laughter erupted from Rocket. "My nipples hurt, oh goodness me!"

His paws went up to his chest, his fingers rubbing where his nipples were, in a mocking matter.

Drax pointed a sharp finger at him. "What about him! What is he doing?!"

"I'm finishing this, so we can listen to tunes while we work." Rocket gestured down to Peter's Walkman and two speakers lying at his feet, wires scattered around the mammal.

"How is that a priority?"

"Blame Quill!" Rocket snapped, gesturing to him. "He's the one who loves music so much!"

"No, no. Actually, I agree with Drax on this, that is hardly important right now." Peter nodded, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, okay. Sure, Quill." Rocket nodded back, winking his left eye. Everyone could see this since Rocket's left side was facing them.

"No, seriously. I side with Drax." Peter said, widening his eyes and motioning to Drax again.

"Oh, I understand that." Rocket continued, winking furiously. "You're being very serious right now."

Gamora shot a confused look towards Lexi, who returned it with a shrug.

"I can clearly see you winking!" Drax exclaimed, eyes narrowing.

"Damn it, I'm using my left eye?"

"Hey," Lexi intervened, making everyone look at her. "it doesn't hurt to have some music playing while we kick ass."

A tiny yell made everyone look down, watching as Groot ran up to an Orloni, and push one over before punching the other one down. He spun on his feet to look up at Rocket. "I am Groot."

"They were not looking at you funny!" he responded, twisting two wires together.

Before anyone could make another move, a loud roar broke out, drawing everyone's attention towards the clouds just in time to watch the Abilisk fly through in a slippery mess.

"That's intense." Rocket muttered with a sigh.

Everyone raised their weapons deftly.

As the Abilisk soared down towards them, Drax was the first to make a move. He ran up to where he thought it would land, gripping his knives tightly.

As soon as the Abilisk crashed into the middle, Drax let out a roar, commencing the battle.

All five headed towards the beast, as Groot stood in front of the speakers, holding two cables. He slowly pushed them together, using his minimal strength to do so.

In the background, they all shot at the thickly-skinned monster, barely noticing the music come on, thanks to Groot.

Lexi smiled, turning towards the speakers before getting smacked by one of the Abilisk's tentacles harshly.

Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra played, making Groot sway back and forth before breaking into a dance.

Groot paid no attention to the battle beside him as he slowly sauntered away, swinging his arms and body to the beat.

The Abilisk's tentacle swatted the ground, inches behind him before lifting. Then, Peter was smacked down, face-first into the ground.

Peter slowly got to his feet with a wobble, shooting a few times at the Abilisk. He saw Groot dancing by his feet and blinked a few times to make the blurriness go away.

"Groot—!" before he could say another word, the Abilisk knocked him away with one of his many limbs.

As Groot continued dancing around, the ground shook underneath him. Behind him, Drax was slammed into the ground over and over.

Gamora yelled as she dodged a beam of energy from the monster's maw before noticing Groot. "Groot! Get out of the way! You're gonna get hurt!"

He smiled and lifted his hand, waving at her.

"Hi!" Gamora forced a smile, before taking off into the air.

Drax was finally thrown down and rolled a few times before stopping in front of Groot. Groot froze in place, feeling Drax's eyes burning into his back. When Groot tried to move once more, he froze again and waiting until Drax stood up and left before dancing again.

A bug buzzed around him, catching his attention. He chased it around until grabbing it and stuffing it into his mouth.

Rocket was quick to lower down and grab Groot's head, patting the back of it firmly. "Spit it out, c'mon! Spit it out!"

Groot opened his mouth, watching as it flew away. Rocket shook his head, grabbing his gun off his back "Disgusting."

Once Rocket was back into the fight, Groot switched his attention on the Orloni from earlier, quickly running at it and grabbing onto it. The creature took off running around the platform, dragging Groot with it.

Groot gasped as he was thrown over the edge of the platform. The Orloni ran towards the fight, going under the monster's stomach and towards the other side. Suddenly, the creature made a B-line for the speakers and turns sharply, throwing Groot from its back.

Groot stood up, wiping the dirt on his arms off and danced around immediately.

The music abruptly cut off, as Drax's body was hurled into the speakers, completely destroying them.

Groot yelled out, running up to him and swatting his shoulder with a twig that broke off of him.

Drax ignored him, standing up to observe the beast. He saw everyone shooting at it, but never breaking the skin of it. Then, an idea came to mind.

Lexi lowered beside Drax, shooting at the massive alien from a further distance.

"The beast's hide appears to be too thick from the outside. I must cut through it from the inside."

Lexi lowered her gun, her eyes widening drastically as she turned to him. "What?!"

Drax let out a roar of laughter, raising his daggers in the air. He took off sprinting towards it, leaving Lexi to call out after him. "No, no, no, Drax! DRAX!"

He launched up in the air, just in time for the Abilisk to turn and swallow him whole. Lexi watched; frozen in place. Her eyes were as wide as saucers.

Peter's expression was shocked as he reached up to take off his helmeted. "What is he doing?!"

"He said the skin was too thick to be pierced from the outside, so he—"

"What? That doesn't make any sense!" Peter cried, landing on the ground beside her.

"Yeah, I know!" Lexi yelled back.

Peter continued to explain to Lexi, making her roll her eyes. "The same thickness from the inside is from the outside!"

"Yeah, no shit, genius!" she growled at him with a glare.

As Peter reloaded another tube of ammunition into his gun, he looked up at Rocket. "There's a cut on its neck. Rocket! Get it to look up!"

Both him and Lexi took off into the air in different directions.

"All right, you giant Sea-Monkey, up here!" Rocket yelled as he and Lexi rapidly fired at the beast's head.

Gamora aimed her rifle at the laceration on the beasts neck, squeezing the trigger. The weapon clicked; it was jammed. Gamora shook her head, tossing it to the side. She pulls out her sword in a swift motion before snapping it open.

The Abilisk screeches at the three overhead, who continue to fire at it. "Rocket, look out!" Peter called as another beam of energy enclosed him, setting his gun on fire. The beast wrapped a limb around Peter, swinging him around before opening its maw and hitting him with a heavy blast of energy as well.

Rocket and Lexi continued to fire at it, dodging its swings as Gamora dashes towards the beast and leaps high into the air. She plunged her sword into the wound. Gamora held on tightly to the hilt as she fell, slicing the incision down the length of the creature's neck.

The Abilisk whined and moaned in pain, letting go of Peter and dropping to the ground limply. Peter flipped around in the air momentarily before quickly activating his jet pack, making him hover right-side-up.

Gamora stood before it, watching the cut oozed green slime. A muffled cry came from it, and Drax slipped out through the laceration, and onto the ground.

Rocket, Peter and Lexi peered down from above, faces twisted in disgust at all the slime oozing from the creature.

Drax lifted to his knees, laughing proudly as he raised his weapons in the air. "Yes! I have single-handedly vanquished the beast!"

Lexi rolled her eyes, facepalming with a head shake.

His laughs were cut short as Groot angrily threw a twig at him.

Drax looked up at his teammates, obviously confused. "What?"