Chapter 16: Aint No Mountain High Enough (1/2)

”It's hard to believe that it's been three months since the Kree-Nova War ended with the Treaty of Andromeda, sighed by Xandarian Empress Adora, Nova Prime Rael, and Kree High-Ruler Monn-Arrk, including the dozens of other governing bodies within both empires. While Xandarian celebrations are only now just seeming to end, Kree protests have only gotten more intense. The most outspoken being the now infamous Ronan the Accuser, who has separated from his government and is committing ma.s.sacres all across the cosmos in the name of his people, though how he's gotten his military backing is still a mystery, as the Kree Amba.s.sador has denied any connection to the rogue captain.” A Krylorian anchor reported, a his face a stoic façade as he read the teleprompter, ”It's almost unbelievable that the war wasn't even close to ending not four months ago, thanks to fact that the War for Zephyr was still waging with increasing tensity. Progress was eventually capable of being made thanks to the outside interference of the man then only known as 'The Celestial' or 'Maelstrom.' The man's tremendous power proved invaluable in what had been the slow grind that was protecting the moon Zephyr from Kree control.” The video of a ma.s.sive ethereal creature with nine tails that seemed to be made of golden fire appeared in the top left corner of the screen, the monster firing off a ma.s.sive ball of energy into a Kree Wars.h.i.+p, destroying it in one blast.

The footage then cut over to what looked like a man made of the very same fire, the man decimating any and all Kree soldiers who dare get in his way, ”It was thanks to him killing the then rogue Admiral Yon-Rogg that the Kree managed to get their men to agree to the armistice, giving both sides time to agree to the terms necessary to sign the treaty.”

The anchor was about to continue when the screen cut out, leaving the only noise in the room being the blaring of the song, 'I'm Not In Love.' The psychedelic track vibrated across the room as the man that turned off the screen walked through it, grabbing the leather vest that was laying on the table. Walking pa.s.sed the bed, where a beautiful Krylorian woman slept peacefully, he silently made his way up to the upper deck of his s.h.i.+p, walking over to the pilot's chair where he then took the controls away from autopilot. Seeing that he was entering the atmosphere of his destination he hovered over the sea of clouds, the various mountain regions peeking out from under them giving the pilot an incredibly beautiful view.

As he began to descend down, a call came through on the screen to his right, forcing him to sigh as he looked at who it was. Seeming to have a momentary internal struggle, he finally gave in and answered the call.

He wasn't allowed to say a word as the caller yelled out, ”You there yet boy?!”

”Yeah, yeah Yondu I'm here, I'm about to land now.” The pilot answered.

”Good!” Yondu said, a smirk creeping onto his face, showing off his crooked yellow teeth that seemed to be made of a golden metal, ”Now stay there and wait for us, we'll be there in an hour.”

”Well you see, that's the thing Yondu, I figured I'd go ahead and scout out the are”

The feed was cut out, Yondu having ended the call in the middle of the pilot's sentence. The pilot cursed as he leaned back in his chair. Giving a sigh he sat there, he silently flew the s.h.i.+p down to the surface. Quickly finding a landing spot, he leaned back in his chair, preparing himself for the hour long wait for Yondu. Rocking back and forth in the chair, he sat quietly for a few moments, the only sounds heard were the music still blaring in the background, the rapid pelting of rain on the still s.h.i.+p, and the sound of the chair creaking back and forth. Finally, he stopped.

”f.u.c.k this.”

Quickly getting up from his seat, he walked down into the lower deck. Grabbing his blaster and then his Walkman, he popped the ca.s.sette that was playing out of the radio. Looking for his trench coat, he finally couldn't help but release an agitated breath at seeing that the woman was using it as a blanket.

Walking over to her, he gently tried to pry it from her grasp while at the same time trying to keep her from waking up, a pointless endeavor it turned out as she almost immediately woke up, ”Pe-Peter?” She tiredly stuttered, her thick Krylorian accent even worse in her drowsiness, ”What's going on?” Looking down to see he was trying to take the coat that was wrapped around her she then asked, ”What're you doing?”

”I'm uhhh…” Peter said, grasping at straws as he tried to think of an excuse, ”I'm getting us some breakfast…but's it's raining.” Nodding down at the coat he continued, ”So…I need my coat.”

”Oh…” She said, ”Well…let me get dressed and I can go with yo-”

”No!” Peter interrupted, only to wince at the volume of his voice, ”I mean...no you stay in bed, you look exhausted.”

”Oh, well okay.” The woman said tiredly, ”Don't take too long.”

He gave a weak thumbs up, ”Sure thing, I'll be back in a sec.” With that, she let go of the coat, allowing Peter to fling it on. Walking over to the bay door, he looked over to make sure she was back to sleep before opening it up. Looking out into the raining planet, he gave a sigh as he pressed down on his earpiece. As he did, a helmet began to expand from the nape of his neck to the front of this face, covering most of his head while leaving his hair out in the open. The helmet was silver in color with gold highlights. The area where the mouth should be looked to be an intricate rebreather, more than likely allowing him to breath in places where oxygen was lacking. To finish off the design, the circular eyes to the helmet were covered by a red lens that glowed in the dimly lit area.

”Welcome to Morag.” He said, his m.u.f.fled mechanical voice barely audible thanks to the vast downpour.

-x-

Three Weeks Later

-x-

Walking through a pair of wide open double doors, Naruto walked into the ma.s.sive temple that seemed to have collapsed in on itself. Parts of the ceiling were gone, allowing beams of daylight to enter and the dripping rain to fall to the debris ridden floor. The only reason the top of the temple hadn't fallen was because of the pillars that seemed to be held together by only luck. Looking around, Naruto couldn't help but be reminded of a recently emptied fish tank, the golden motif of the temple plagued by vast amounts of coral and fungi.

Taking cautious steps, Naruto said, ”Welp…this is it.”

”And where is this exactly?” Kurama asked.

”Kurama, you seriously need to stop taking such long naps. I'm getting tired of having to explain my adventures midway through.” Naruto thought, kicking a weird looking rat that scurried up to him as he did, ”What the f.u.c.k was that?!” He yelled out, looking at the freaky little monster.

”Hey, it's not my fault that all I have to do to keep me occupied is sitting here watching you and nap. You haven't let me out in months.”

”That was during a fight. I can't just let you out w.i.l.l.y nilly, you're a walking talking natural disaster.” Seeing that there was a ma.s.sive crevice in front of him, Naruto poured chakra into his legs before jumping, clearing the crevice like a champ.

”Bah.” Kurama said, ”You make that sound like a badthing.”

”And that's the problem.” Naruto thought, ”And this is the place that Gog told us about, the powerful object on the planet Morag.”

”And we're looking for this 'powerful object' why?” Kurama asked.

”Because this is the only lead we have at the moment that I actually want to follow. It's this or go to Earth, somewhere in the Nine Realms, or go and fight Thanos for his stone. Now, can we please continue this little quest of ours, or do I need to give more exposition?” Naruto said, his annoyance clear.

”Whatever.” Kurama said with a sigh, ”This better be interesting though, or I'm gonna be p.i.s.sed.”

Coming up to the end of the temple, he stood in front of a ma.s.sive stone door, that like the front door, was wide open. Walking into the dark room, with the only source of light being the large wall towards the back of the room. Raising up his arm, he allowed his it to be enveloped by Kurama's chakra. His arm now covered by a yellow fire, the room was now illuminated in a golden hue. Walking into the room further, Naruto could now completely make out that in the middle of the room seemed to be some kind of containment device, though it seemed to be deactivated.

Inspecting it further, he sighed in agitation as he said, ”Well s.h.i.+t. Whatever was here is gone.” Scratching the back of his head he said, ”That's just f.u.c.king great.”

He was about to turn around to leave when he heard the sound of several people run up behind him. Turning around, he looked surprised at the squad of Sakarran soldiers. The insectoid men all had their guns raised towards Naruto, their dark brown armor gleaming the golden light, ”Hold it!” The lead Sakaaran shouted, his voice a harsh hiss, ”What are you doing here?!” He demanded.

”I could ask you guys the same thing.” Naruto said lazily, ”You guys haven't seen an object that's supposed to hold a lot of power around here have you?”

The Sakaaran's looked amongst themselves, the leader hesitating for a moment before hissing, ”What do you know of the orb?”

”The orb? So that's what it's called.” Naruto mumbled, ”Well, all I know is it was supposed to be here. What do you know about it?”

The leader didn't say a word at first, simply looking Naruto over for a second before the soldier to his left said, ”Korath ordered us to kill anyone that came here, remember?”

Nodding, he said, ”Aye, I do.” With that, he raised his rifle up so that it was pointing right at Naruto's forehead. He wasn't allowed to pull the trigger however, as he found his airway nearly being crushed by the strange blonde man, his flaming hand squeezing his throat hard enough he thought he felt his spinal column collapse.

Naruto didn't waste any time, throwing the man to the side before giving a quick kick into the Sakaaran to his left, his foot driving into the man's midsection. The sound of breaking ribs could barely be heard over the sounds of laser fire, the four other Sakaarans' doing their best to hit the blonde. When they all realized that their target was no longer in front of them, they quickly began to look around. Quickly becoming confused, they each began to think he'd somehow escaped. The Sakaaran furthest to the right then heard a piece of stalact.i.te fall to the ground, the rock nearly landing on his foot. Looking up, he gave a startled gasp, only for it to be interrupted by a kunai lodging itself in between his eyes.

The remaining soldiers weren't able to do a thing about their fallen comrade, as a wall of fire suddenly fell upon them from above, ”Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!”

Naruto, the lead Sakaaran under his arm, walked away from the chamber, whistling a jaunty toon as he went. Now a good distance from the blazing inferno he'd created, he set the insect man down, ”This interesting yet?” Naruto asked his partner.

”It's getting there.” Kurama said with a soft shrug.

Propping the man up against one of the many pillars loitering around the temple, he fed Earth Chakra into the ground, controlling it into forming cuffs around his wrists and ankles. Taking off the Sakaaran's helmet, he pressed his pointer finger up against the man's temple. Shooting a quick pump of lightning into him, Naruto watched with an amused smirk as the man jerked awake. At first giving a struggled attempt to get up, he quickly realized he was bound. Giving the cuffs a test by giving them a swift jerk, he sighed in frustration as he looked over at the still smirking Naruto.

”What do you want?” He hissed out harshly.

Naruto shrugged, ”Just tell me what that orb is, who has it, and who it is you work for.”

”And if I don't?” He asked challengingly.

”Simple.” Naruto said.

With that single word, the Sakaaran soldier's mind was suddenly flooded with the sight of a ma.s.sive nine tailed monster tearing him apart, stomping and chewing on him like a pet would with a chew toy. The sight of buildings burning, his loved ones lying dead on the floor, the blonde man standing over them with their blood splattered all over him. He saw planets imploding in on themselves, galaxies falling apart, and the universe itself being torn in twain. And just like that, as quickly as it came it went, leaving the man a sweating mess as he tried to catch his breath.

”Wh-wha….what are you?” He stuttered out.

Naruto shrugged once again, ”That depends on your answer. So…what will it be?”

The Sakaaran soldier didn't even hesitate.

-x-

Naruto sat in his s.h.i.+p's c.o.c.kpit, his hands folded under his chin as he thought over what he was told. Apparently, the soldier hadn't been informed on what the orb actually was, only that his employer wanted it desperately. As far as who took the orb, all he knew was that it was a guy in Ravager garb who called himself 'Star-Lord.' Really the only good information he gave was that he was working for Ronan the Accuser, who was then working with the Mad t.i.tan in his quest to destroy Xandar, which answered the question of who was funding his little ma.s.sacres across the galaxy. This bit of news was honestly perfect as far as Naruto was concerned. He was planning on confronting the Accuser soon anyway after he'd heard of the ma.s.sive tantrum he'd been throwing the last couple months. Now not only could he get a hold of this...o...b.. something that Thanos seemed to be interested in too, but he could also take on Ronan who he was sure was in the middle of the whole thing.

Thinking of only one person who would know who this Star-Lord was, he quickly went through his contacts on his Uta. Selecting the person he was looking for, he waited patiently for them to answer. Finally, a face popped up on the screen in front of him.

”Long time no see Naruto.” The sweet melody of Tara's voice meeting Naruto's ears.

Smirking, Naruto said, ”It sure has, how's the crew?”

”Oh, you know,” The captain's daughter began, ”Same s.h.i.+t as ever.”

Nodding, Naruto replied, ”Yeah, I figured.”

”So, what do ya need Naruto?” Tara asked.

”What makes you think I need anything?” The blonde warrior asked sheepishly.

The woman gave Naruto a blank stare, ”Cause you only ever call when you needsomething, that's what.”

Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto gave his patented smile, ”Yeah…I'll make it up to you, I promise.”

”You promise huh?”

”Hey, I never break my promises. So, just know that at some point in time I'll be making it up to you. Besides, this isn't even that big of a favor. I just need to know if you've ever heard of a particular Ravager.” Naruto explained.

Tara gave an exasperated sigh, ”There are thousands of Ravagers in circulation at the moment Naruto, I doubt I'd know whoever it is your looking for.”

”Yeah, I know, but this guy has a 'codename.'” Naruto said, throwing out some air quotes as he finished the sentence, ”He goes by 'Star-Lord. Apparently, he too-”

”Did you just say Star-Lord?” Tara interrupted.

”Uh…” Naruto murmured, ”Yeah?”

Tara sighed once again, pinching the bridge of her nose as she did, ”Yeah…yeah I know him.” Looking back up she said, ”He's one of Yondu's, name's Peter Quill. Their main intermediary is Broker, I'd start there.”

”Really?” Naruto said, ”That's awesome, I'm heading there now. Thanks for the help.” With Tara giving a nod of acknowledgement, Naruto was about to cut off the feed, ”Alright, next destination, Xandaria.”

”Hey wait!”

Naruto paused, looking back down at the screen, ”Yeah?”

”More than likely, the idiot's pulled a fast one on Yondu, which means that the blue b.a.s.t.a.r.d is going after him as well. If or when you see him, give him a good punch in the face for me.” Tara requested.

Naruto shrugged, ”Sure, I guess.”

With that, Tara cut off the feed.

-x-

Location: Kree Wars.h.i.+p the Dark Aster

-x-

The Dark Aster could only be described by one word: ma.s.sive. Even compared to most other Kree Wars.h.i.+ps, this vast vessel was on a whole other level of size and power. The appearance of the s.h.i.+p was that of a ma.s.sive skysc.r.a.per turned over on its side, with the corners twisted and turned like a twizzler. The dark behemoth loomed in the ever dark void that was the cosmos, the captain of said s.h.i.+p waiting patiently in his chambers for the s.h.i.+p to head for its next destination.

”Sir, sir! We have news from Morag!” Korath shouted out as he entered the vast chambers, ”One of our patrolling squadrons has been annihilated, with only one survivor.” Korath was a man of dark brown skin that appeared to be part man part machine, with mechanical pieces sticking out of his head every which way.

Perched upon his throne was Ronan the Accuser himself, the Kree fanatic wearing the traditional battle armor of his people, only his was a dark black in color. Unlike most Kree warriors, his skin was almost completely covered by a thick black war paint, giving his menacing appearance another extra oomph. Resting to his right sat his weapon of choice, the Cosmi-Rod. This powerful warhammer has ended many Xandarian lives, their dried blood clearly visible on the face of the hammer. And there, sitting to his left, was Nebula. The blue skinned a.s.sa.s.sin tweaking with her robotic prosthetic arm, a tool of some kind playing around with the insides of her forearm.

His chin resting on his fist, Ronan allowed his baritone voice to echo across the chambers, ”Bring him to me.”

Quickly nodding, Korath motioned for whoever was outside the chambers to enter. His pace was slow, as his limp prevented him from going at a speed any faster. Finally making his way to the center of the room. Looking up, the man gave a firm solute, ”My lord.”

”Who was it that attacked you?” Ronan asked, his voice holding a dangerous edge to it.

”Hi-his name I do not know. But he was powerful. He was fast, strong, and could breathe fire.”

”Sir…this sounds like-” Korath began to say.

”Like the 'Celestial.'” Ronan interrupted, Nebula's head shooting up at the mentioning of the man. Getting up from him seat, he grabbed onto the handle of his hammer, taking it with him as he walked closer to the Sakarran soldier, ”And how is it that you managed to survive an encounter with that man.”

”He told me…to give you a message.” Reaching into his breast plate, the man extended it out towards his master.

s.n.a.t.c.hing the slip of paper from his grip, Ronan silently unfolded the paper. Looking it over for only a second, he growled angrily as he crumpled the paper into a little ball before throwing it to the side.

”What did it say?” Nebula asked.

”Nothing.” Ronan said, ”It was gibberish.”

”So…what now?” Korath asked, ”If the 'Celestial' is after the orb as well, that complicates matters.”

”It complicates nothing. Once I retrieve the orb, Thanos will annihilate Xandar and its little hero.” Ronan said, his voice filled with absolute a.s.surance.

”Not if I don't kill him first.” Nebula said darkly, rubbing her shoulder tenderly as she did.

Giving a cruel smirk, Ronan said, ”Of course, I forgot about your little vendetta against him.” Heading back to his throne, he sat down as he continued, ”Rest a.s.sured you will have your chance with him, after we raid the Kyln.”

”Whatever you say.”

-x-

Location: The City of Xandaria of the Planet Xandar

-x-

Naruto walked out of his M-s.h.i.+p giving a few testing stretches. Giving an overly loud groan, Naruto whined, ”Why did there have to be so many Jump Points in between Morag and Xandar? I mean 97 jumps seems like a bit of a stretch.”

”Would you shut the f.u.c.k up about it already?” Kurama demanded, ”I get it, it was a long trip. For Sage's sake, would you stop whining?!”

Finally popping the knot out of his back, Naruto said, ”Hey, I'm not whining. I'm just observing the fact that there were 90 jumps more than necessary. That's all I'm saying.”

”You're almost as annoying as Has.h.i.+rama was, and that's not a compliment.”

Naruto shrugged, not seeing the point in arguing further. Walking over to the side of his s.h.i.+p, he made to slap his hand on the cool metal, ”Seal!” He shouted as a fuinjutsu marking appeared on the palm of his hand. Right as his hand made contact, the s.h.i.+p was enveloped in a ma.s.sive cloud of smoke. Quickly exerting some wind chakra, Naruto blew the smoke away, revealing the Kus.h.i.+na to have disappeared. A satisfied smirk on his face, Naruto said, ”Oh yeah, fuinjutsu is the f.u.c.king s.h.i.+t man, I'm telling you.” After a moment, he thought, ”No offence Kurama.”

”Some taken.” Kurama mumbled, ”You do know you did that if front of everybody else on the docking bay, right?”

Looking around, Naruto raised an eyebrow at all the people that were staring at him in extreme levels of shock, a mult.i.tude of them pointing at him and whispering to each other not so discreetly. Rubbing the back of his head rather sheepishly, Naruto gave a rather weak wave, ”Uh…hey?”

Wanting to get away from the gawking public, Naruto quickly disappeared in a Body Flicker. Appearing on a rooftop several blocks away, the blonde looked around to get his bearings. Easily spotting the Broker's building, Naruto began to skip along the various rooftops, dead set on getting their as quickly as he could without getting too much attention. After only a few minutes of maneuvering along the city, Naruto landed in the ma.s.sive courtyard that the Broker's building resided. Submerging himself into the sea of people, Naruto did his best to weave through the crowd seamlessly.

Finally making his way to the building, Naruto walked through the open doorway. Seeing that the man had his back turned, the blonde walked up to the counter and began to wait patiently. As time ticked on, and Broker continued to look at whatever it was in his hands, Naruto grew more and more impatient. After nearly three minutes of waiting, the blonde finally gave a very loud cough into his hand. Startled, Broker nearly dropped the object, juggling it momentarily before finally securing it once more in his hands. Turning sharply, more than likely about to admonish whoever was so foolish as to startle him in the middle of his work, only to pale at the sight of Naruto 'Maelstrom' Uzumaki.

”ah…Mr. Uzumaki.” Broker stuttered, ”How…how may I help you today?” He asked as he gently rested what was in his hand on the counter.

Giving a charming smile, Naruto said, ”Just have a few questions for you, that's all.”

”What kind of questions?” Broker asked suspiciously.

”Oh, you know…the Ravager kind.”

That was all Broker needed to hear before he quickly rushed around the counter, heading towards the door. Swaying his arms hurriedly in front of the sensor, he shut the automatic doors before activating the locking device. Turning back around scathingly he said, ”You should know better than to talk of such things when the door was wide open.”

”And you should know better than to leave the door open when you do this kind of business.” Naruto countered.

”An open door shows I have nothing to hide. The Nova Corps is already looking into my business transactions, I can't have them think I look suspicious.” The rat man said back.

”Yeah, sure.” Naruto said with a slight roll of the eyes, ”I just need to know if you've done business with a guy calling himself 'Star-Lord.'”

Broker looked at Naruto quizzically, ”Star-Lord?” Seeing Naruto nod he continued, ”I've never worked with a man going by such a ridiculous moniker, that I know of at least.”

Naruto sighed, ”His real name is Peter Quill.”

The mention of that name immediately caused a chain reaction in Broker's facial expression, the man almost instantly becoming s.h.i.+fty and nervous as he tried to walk pa.s.sed Naruto so he could get back behind the counter, ”I'm sorry to say that I've never worked with a man named 'Peter Quill' either.”

”Oh really?” Naruto asked, ”That's not what Tara told me. She said that you work with him and his captain quite a bit.” Leaning over the counter he asked, ”Why're you lying to me Broker?”

”I-I'm doing no such thing! Surely Ms. Tara is mistaken, as I've never heard of this Quill in my life.” Broker insisted.

Naruto sighed, ”Look man, I can tell you're lying. I don't need to sense it either, you've got more tells than a Catholic altar boy.”

”A what?” Broker asked.

”…never mind.” Naruto said as he rubbed his eyelid in agitation, ”Now just tell me if he came in here with an orb like object so I can go about my freaking day.”

”I-I don't know.”

The blonde warrior looked Broker in the eye, entering a momentary staring contest, before he finally backed off, taking several steps back as he did. Looking around, Naruto walked over to one of the cases loitering around the room. Opening one up, he took what looked like a very delicate golden figurine out, holding it out in his palm, ”I'm gonna ask again, did you have a transaction with Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord?”

”Please, no!” Broker begged, ”That is worth over Three Million Units! It's the last of its kind-”

”And I'm gonna break it if you don't tell me what I want to know.” Naruto interrupted, ”You have three seconds. Three. Two. O-”

”I had nothing to do with the orb!” Broker screamed, practically on his knees as he looked at Naruto, ”You have to believe me! I canceled my transaction with Quill as soon as I discovered who your boss was! I swear!”

”My boss?” Naruto asked.

”Ye-yes!” Broker said with confusion in his voice, ”You're working with the Accuser, aren't you?”

”You think I'm working with Ronan the Accuser?” Naruto asked. When Broker gave a frantic nod, he robbed the side of his face in frustration, ”Dude…I'm notworking for the guy.”

”You're…you're not?”

”No.”

”Oh.” Broker said rather weekly.

Pulling the rat man up to his feet, Naruto asked, ”What the h.e.l.l gave you that idea?”

”I don't know, I just a.s.sumed that-”

”You just a.s.sumed that I was working for a homicidal maniac? You do watch the news, right? I'm the last guy you should a.s.sume is working with a someone like that.” Naruto said, ”Do you know where Quill might've gone after you kicked him out?”