Rookie Guardian

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A familiar orange and teal M-Wing spaceship lowered down onto the grassy fields. At the base of a fallen tree, opposite the landing site, Ana sat with a cloth pressed to the side of her head. She smiled when she saw her saviours exit through the rear end of the ship. Three people, a raccoon, and a plant hollered for her to join them, waving their hands.

Ana was feeling sore, and she groaned when she got to her feet, arching her back forward to relieve her joints. She huffed out a breath before strolling towards them, flashing them a grateful smile. She was safe.

"You really are the Guardians of the Galaxy." Ana chuckled, shaking Peter's outstretched hand with her free one. She went around and greeted them kindly.

They all grinned. "Pleasure to be of service, human." Peter responded with a snicker.

Drax had his focus on the fallen tree, a confused glint in his eyes. Gamora nodded her head. "You look like hell." She said bluntly. "Trouble?"

Ana bobbed her head, removing the cloth to check the bleeding. "I just escaped my first galaxy mess. Two aliens, big ones." She held her hand over her head, representing how tall the aliens she encountered were.

"I am Groot." The little creature spoke up. He sat on Rocket's shoulder, looking at Ana's hair.

Rocket had his arms crossed. "He says you've got leaves in your hair." He said.

Gamora brushed the handful of leaves from Ana's loose ponytail and Drax looked back at Peter. "How fortunate we were close by. Otherwise we wouldn't have gotten here in time and she would have be eaten."

Ana's eyes bugged out of their sockets and she held a hand over her beating heart. "Eaten?" She repeated quietly, glancing over her shoulder at the lush forest. She jumped when there was a sudden rumble in the ground. Her eyes darted to the group, waiting for any kind of response. Rocket began chuckling behind his hands as Gamora picked up Groot when he started whining, and held him in her hands. Peter clapped Ana's shoulder twice, sucking in his lips.

"Yeah. We should leave."

"So, where're we heading?"

Ana leaned her elbows on the back of both pilot seats. Peter was in the one on her left while Rocket sat in the one on her right. She tried to make sense of the tech on the consoles, but it was something else entirely because it was space tech. Ana snorted, obviously, she thought. The only thing she understood were the flight controls Peter handled.

"Well, before you called, we were on our way to handle a thief on a small planet close by." Peter informed her, flying the ship off the ground and into the skies. He looked up at her to see her reaction and he was satisfied when she nodded.

"Alright. Thief. I can help with that." Ana opened her hands suggestively, "I mean, if you don't mind."

Rocket chuckled. "Oh, we don't mind. Just warning ya, these thieves ain't like the ones you got one Earth." He told her, holding back other very important details.

Peter looked up at her then, curious. "We still got amateur criminals at home, yeah?"

Ana frowned. "Well, if you mean amateur as in crazy dudes with alien tech who've got too much time on their hands, then yeah, we still got criminals." She nodded. Peter scrunched his nose up, shaking his head.

Ana patted his shoulder. "There's a lot of bad people there." She said.

Peter's lips curved downwards.

The sound of a classic tune filled the air, breaking the silence. Ana let out a surprised laugh, turning her head and looking over her shoulder to Groot. He was standing at the base of a panel in the wall, nodding his head along with the beat. The stereo system was designed to play music from cassette tapes, and currently it played Escape by Rupert Holmes, or otherwise known as the Piña Colada song.

Gamora and Drax reemerged from the small kitchen, carrying a few plates of food. As the song played, Ana glanced at them. "You guys have music from Earth?" She asked.

Gamora offered her a small and round red fruit. Ana took it, trying to figure out what it was while Gamora responded to the question. "They're Quill's. He's had them ever since he was abducted from his home." She replied, smiling softly.

Ana turned to Peter with soft eyes. "You were abducted?"

Peter shrugged. "It was a long time ago." He dismissed. "But what a song, huh? I've got two Awesome Mixes my mom made me."

Ana grinned. "Oh? Do you're parents know you're here?"

Peter shook his head, lowering his eyes briefly. "No, uh, mom died of cancer the day I was taken. And dad, well I never met him." He told her quietly, still pained by the memories.

Ana's smile dropped and she sighed. "I'm sorry, Quill. My mom and dad are gone too, died just after I was born." She shared.

Gamora crossed her arms. "I guess we all have that in common. No parents."

The topic had taken a gloomy turn and Ana planned to change it. She inhaled and brought the fruit up to her face. "Can somebody tell me what this is?" She asked incredulously.

That got the Guardians to smile.

"It's tastes like a strawberry but looks like a cross between a tomato and an orange." Peter explained, knowing how.

Ana raised her eyebrows, letting out a quiet ooh. She bit into it, ignoring their intense stares. Peter was right, it did taste like a strawberry. She hummed, chewing on the food. One look at Peter and he chuckled.

"Told you guys she'd like it." He told the others.

Drax tore half of the fruit he had and shoved it in his mouth, munching on it loudly. Gamora picked at hers while Rocket and Groot halved one to share. Peter took the other half of Ana's and they all sat together at the front of the ship, getting to know each other better.

As Ana looked around, she could tell they were a family despite their differences. Dysfunctional and bizarre, but a family.

- - -

"Alrighty, there it is."

Ana and the Guardians all looked to where Peter was pointing. They landed on an industrial planet, going after the thief Rocket said he knew would be on it. There really wasn't much to go on except for the fact that they were notified by a few concerned citizens of said planet about the disturbance the thief was causing. Ana was expecting something huge like a massive alien tearing through buildings and causing chaos.

And as she looked at the peaceful farm they were heading towards, she sighed.

"A farm?" Gamora voiced, unsure.

Groot was perched up on Rocket's shoulder while the raccoon chuckled to himself, starting on the path his mapping device showed. "What a front, huh? If I passed this place, I wouldn't give it another look." He smirked.

"Smart." Drax noted.

Ana started rethinking about bringing her sword. She placed it on her hip holster while Peter scratched his cheek, glancing at the large farm house about fifty meters away.

"Let's spilt up. We'll cover more ground that way and it'll take less time. Rocket, Drax, you two take and Groot head to the main house while Gamora, Ana and I will check out that farm house." He placed his hands on his hips as he looked to everyone for their agreement.

"C'mon, muscles." Rocket gestured for Drax to follow as he gripped his large blaster. Groot stood up on Rocket's shoulder and faced the others, giving them a fleeting wave.

Ana smiled and wagged her fingers at him.

"Let's go." Peter cheered, making Gamora internally groan at his happy mood. The women stayed on either side of Quill as they approached the farm house.

"Seeing as you will be staying with us, how would you like to be our intern?" Peter enquired. He looked at Ana as she thought on the proposition.

"I'm down." She smiled. Peter lifted his fist and bumped it against hers. "What happens when we find the theif?" Ana asked.

"Well... if it cooperates, we'll take it to the Kyln — a space prison. If it doesn't-"

"We shall attack it." Gamora cut him off, readying her sword.

Ana nodded. "Cool."

Peter decided to go first and he backed against the brown door. He motioned for the others to get back while he slid the door open a little. The suspense was killing Ana as she watched Peter slowly peek into the barn and lift his quad-blasters up.

There was a loud rev of an engine and the whole roof of the barn splintered as a huge black spaceship soared into the air. The force pushed Peter back and he fell to the ground with a thud. Gamora and Ana stepped away so they could get a better look at the flying craft overhead.

The others came running after hearing the commotion. Gamora acted quickly and took one of Peter's blasters instead of helping him up and began shooting at the engines. Ana couldn't see a pilot and frowned in confusion.

Gamora hit a turbine, causing it to explode and it emitted smoke. It tilted on its side and propelled towards Rocket, Drax and Groot, its systems out of control. Ana started running after the ship while Peter and Gamora yelled for everyone to get out of the way.

Eldritch Bands formed in-between Ana's hands and she threw one end at the right turbine, latching on to it. She dug her heels into the dirt and pulled, causing the spaceship to come to a slow. She strained to pull it out of the sky. When the engines gave in, and the ship's systems went haywire, Ana tugged on the Eldritch Whip and sent the craft to the ground. It collided hard on impact and parts of the exterior bounced off, nearly hitting the others.

Ana let the Whip fizzle away before kneeling on the dirt, catching her breath.

"What the hell?!" Rocket screeched, staring at the ship wide eyed.

Drax, Peter and Gamora met up with Ana and the latter placed a hand on her shoulder. Gamora was impressed. "Nice job, intern."

Peter rubbed the sore spot on his back and smiled through the wincing. "What was that? Magic?"

"I would like to learn more of her magic abilities." Drax mumbled quietly.

Ana smiled at them while Rocket threw a tantrum.

"You did this?!" Ana's head reared back at Rocket's jab towards her.

"I did just do that."

Rocket was grabbing the little hairs on the very top of his head, growling at Ana when she pointed at the damaged ship.

"There was a bounty on it for fifty thousand units!"

Ana made fists, knuckles turning white. She slowly got to her feet, not bothering to wipe the dirt from her pants. "It almost crushed you, Rocket!" She retorted.

Groot stopped by Ana and laid a small hand on her boot. He agreed with the earthling. He looked to Rocket with his doe eyes, "I am Groot." He spoke.

Rocket huffed. "Did I ask who's side you're on?"

Peter had his palm facing Rocket's direction, a tired look on his face. "Calm down. It's not her fault, no one told her about the bounty. And quite frankly, you didn't tell me either."

Drax shrugged when Rocket threw him a look. "It must have slipped my mind to inform Ana of Earth."

Gamora looked to the raccoon with a disapproving look in her eyes. "I thought we were hunting a theif."

Rocket grumbled. "The ship is what people called the Phantom Flyer. It's got an A.I. and it flies on its own! Also worth thousands!"

Ana started walking away, grumbling on about how ungrateful the raccoon was, shaking Gamora's hand from her elbow. Her shoulders were rigid and she stomped over to the fallen aircraft. Ignoring the others who called her name, she grabbed the supposed entrance of the ship and tore it off as easy as ripping paper. The calls for her to come back stopped and all of them but Rocket snapped their mouths shut. Ana thought there would be something on the ship worth salvaging that would make Rocket less angry. She was stuck with them for who knows how long, and she didn't want any one of them to hate her. That would be bad for her first experience as a space heroine.

Ana kicked through the debris, trying to find something at least shiny or rare looking. Nothing but metal infrastructure and loose consoles were littered in the ship. Ana backed into the pilot seat that was still intact and placed her chin on her propped hand. She was in the galaxies, stuff that seemed normal here were probably worth billions on Earth.

And that's when it hit her.

Rocket might have the coolest gadgets in space, but he didn't have anything like Stark Tech. She knew she had something in her backpack on the Milano and hopped to her feet, determined to win Rocket over.

She exited the ruined ship and returned to the group who were still trying to get Rocket to cool down. Ana completely ignored the Guardians and made a beeline for the Milano. She entered through the back ramp and reached for her bag that hanged on the hook by the aero-rigs. She kneeled on the floor and dug through it, hearing footsteps beside her, telling her the group joined her inside the ship.

"Okay, I know this won't outshine the rest of your devices, but this is the best tech on Earth as of now." Ana said, lifting her hand out of her bag and extending it toward Rocket who pushed through Gamora's and Peter's legs.

Rocket grabbed the metal disk from her palm and turned it over in his hands. "What is it?"

Ana smiled softly as Groot moved closer to see what she was doing. After quickly tapping the small circle button in the centre of the disk, she threw it outside the ship and waved for everyone to get back when the button lit up.

Red lasers emitted from the disk and with a limited five meter radius, it cut through the grey rocks that were on the ground and even sliced through the already destroyed ship. It was a modified version of the ones in Tony's suit.

She took a few prototypes when he wasn't looking.

Rocket watched as the ship that was sliced in half fall apart. He glanced at the tiny disk on the ground, wondering how all that power fit into it.

"You got anymore of those?" He asked, turning to face Ana with a smirk.

Ana smiled, nodding. "A whole pack of 'em. And they're reusable too." She shared. "If you want them, they're yours. You can sell them, use them, whatever."

"Alright." He chuckled, "You got a deal."

Ana bumped her fist against his smaller one, relieved.

"I am Groot."

Rocket crossed his arms and shook his head at the small creature. "Hell no, Groot. I'm not letting you go anywhere near those. They'll cut you in half, you idiot!"

Groot lowered his head and looked to Ana expectantly. He wanted something cool too. She understood his look and shrugged, smiling apologetically. "Sorry pal, nothing in there for you." She said softly, brushing a piece of her loose hair behind her ear.

Peter, Gamora and Drax all tried to peek into her large backpack. "What about us?" Peter smiled, wagging his eyebrows.

Ana tapped her chin, before letting out an ah! and picking out a chocolate block she was saving for later. Peter's eyes widened when he saw Cadbury, and immediately snatched it from Ana's open hands.

"Yes!" He pumped his fist, before breaking off a piece and shoving it in his mouth. He closed his eyes, moaning at the taste. "Oh, so good!"

Gamora took it from him, picked up a piece, and handed it to Drax who copied her actions. Ana watched with a laugh as they all moaned out loud once the chocolate was consumed.

"You don't have chocolate in space?" Ana enquired.

"One of the cons about it." Peter sighed heavily. "Really did miss this stuff. Thanks." He shot her a smile.

Ana nodded. "You're welcome, Star-Boy."

All but Peter cracked up and Ana's smile turned into a curious one. Peter shoved Drax's shoulder when he laughed in his ear loudly. He sent Ana a look.

"It's Star-Lord, man."

- - - - -

Oh, and there have been a lot of comments on how and why does Ana know everyone in the mcu. From the start, it's been my goal to include every character. I think it's fun and exciting. Also I think it's cool how she's the one thing everyone has in common.

Q- Spider-Man or Venom?