As the Guardians of the Galaxy's flashy, orange-red starship touched down in the hangar of S.W.O.R.D. headquarters, the entire crew disembarked. Compared to their last visit, the team's lineup was virtually unchanged, except for the addition of a space dog.
Yes, it really was a dog, wearing a spacesuit and everything.
Stepping off the ship first, Star-Lord looked around S.W.O.R.D.'s vessel in disbelief. "Does time flow differently on Earth compared to the rest of the universe? Have we been gone for thousands of years? How does Earth suddenly have a ship this massive?"
"Or perhaps you are simply still dreaming, Peter Quill, and we are all merely figments of your imagination."
Drax delivered this bit of dry humor, which neither he nor anyone else quite understood, as he pushed past Star-Lord. Behind him, Rocket Raccoon and Gamora chatted as they walked by. "You think we could steal this ship? Looks like it'd fetch a pretty unit."
Gamora calmly replied to Rocket, "This ship is too big. It would require too many crew members, and we can't afford to hire that many people."
"Ha, maybe we could have Cosmo mind-control the crew into flying it for us."
Star-Lord sighed helplessly, completely losing the motivation to move. That was until the spacesuit-wearing dog trotted up to his leg and gave it a hard whack with her tail. Star-Lord looked down at Cosmo, who spoke to him via telepathy: "I would not do that. I am just a good dog."
"Yeah, I know, so what?!"
Star-Lord turned back as Groot tapped him on the shoulder. The massive tree-person simply replied, "I am Groot."
"No! You can't help Rocket steal the ship. It's not our ship!"
Star-Lord's exasperated response only earned him another "I am Groot." The frustration only worsened when Mantis walked out and added, "Everyone is getting along so well!"
Finally, Adam Warlock walked past Star-Lord, who was standing frozen in place, and glanced at him. "Is something wrong, Quill?"
"No, I'm fine. I think I'll be fine once we're actually on Earth." Star-Lord shook his head helplessly and muttered under his breath, "I need to go ask if the Avengers are still recruiting."
They walked down the corridor and spotted the S.W.O.R.D. personnel waiting to welcome them. Mar-Vell, Earth's only known extraterrestrial and a special consultant to S.W.O.R.D., shook hands with Star-Lord. "Welcome, Your Highness, and your fellow adventurers."
"Uh, thanks, Mar-Vell. This is a nice ship you've got here. Where'd it come from?"
"The Avengers defeated an enemy from the 31st century. This is a battleship that enemy brought from that era. We're temporarily using it as part of Earth's defense network."
"Oh, I get it. Like the Terminator, right?"
Mar-Vell looked thoroughly bewildered, so he chose to skip past the subject. "Given that this warship remains entirely outside the atmosphere, this place serves as an official agency for diplomatic relations between Earth and extraterrestrial civilizations."
Once Mar-Vell finished his explanation, it was Star-Lord's turn to look completely bewildered. "Earth is unified now?"
"...No."
"Then how do you have an official diplomatic agency for Earth when there isn't even a global government?"
Star-Lord's question left Mar-Vell at a loss for words, so he had to gloss over it as well. "In any case, you already know what we need your help with. A Nova Corps Centurion sacrificed himself while pursuing space pirates, and a young Earthling has taken up his mantle. We need you to escort the captured space pirates back to Xandar, and take the kid along with you."
"Got it. Doesn't sound too difficult." Star-Lord nodded, then looked back at his teammates with a troubled expression. "But... you know what these friends of mine are like. If there's absolutely no reward..."
"I know, I know. S.W.O.R.D. will negotiate the compensation with you. We'll make sure your friends are satisfied."
Mar-Vell nodded hastily in agreement before continuing, "Speaking of which... there's an Avenger waiting for you here. You know him—it's Spider-Man."
"Oh, the young kid who's also named Peter." Star-Lord nodded. "Sure, what does he want with us?"
"I don't know. He insisted on speaking to you and Rocket in person."
—
A few minutes later, in a reception room, Rocket was grumbling. "I wanted to go see where this ship keeps its storage and armory. Weapons from the 31st century, Quill! Didn't you want to take a good look?"
"I won't even live to see the 31st century, Rocket. I don't think I even understand 23rd-century technology, let alone the 31st."
"Ha, that's just you. Trust me, I could figure out Earth's 31st-century tech in ten minutes flat. Piece of cake."
As the two were bickering, the door opened. Rocket crossed his arms, staring up without reservation at Peter, who was four or five times his height. "Alright, Spider-boy, what are you keeping us here for?"
"I'm guessing it's to keep you from running wild. Ow!"
Star-Lord got a hard kick from Rocket. Peter, long accustomed to such antics, got straight to the point and projected a set of coordinates onto the room's screen. "We've detected an anomalous energy signature directly opposite Earth's orbit. It was first discovered by Osborn Industries, and then the Fantastic Four and NASA sent out probes to investigate. They confirmed there's a spatial weak point leading to another location. Because it's positioned directly opposite us, we call it Counter-Earth."
Star-Lord nodded. Although he didn't recognize two of the three organizations Spider-Man had mentioned, it didn't stop him from understanding the basic premise: on the opposite side of Earth's orbit, there was an unopened portal leading to a place called Counter-Earth.
"So what? Did some kind of monster pop out of it? Or a supervillain?"
"Not yet. But if anything ever did come out of there, it's something you'd be very familiar with." Peter spoke as he played a video captured by the probes, which showed nothing but empty void. "I, uh, can see a bit of the future, and I've also been to other parallel universes, so I know some basic information about Counter-Earth."
"The creator of Counter-Earth is named Herbert Edgar Wyndham, a PhD in biology who graduated from Cambridge. According to information from other universes and my glimpses of the future, he also goes by the High Evolutionary. In Counter-Earth, he succeeded in conducting research to evolve non-primate organisms into intelligent lifeforms."
Star-Lord watched as Rocket's expression shifted from complete indifference to sheer fury.
"And right now, we have no way of opening the portal to Counter-Earth."
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