"Three portions, please." Monnie said as she placed some units onto the chrome surface in front of her. The middle-aged Xandarian woman behind the counter gave her a long look over, no doubt recognizing Monnie from the wanted posters hung up in the area, but still, she snatched the units and passed over the food portions. Units were units, and at the moment, the woman didn't seem to care if she just accepted several of them from a known criminal, especially one like Subject 78N14.

Moonie flashed the woman a faint smile before heading towards the water fountain in the center of the city square where she could see her two friends searching for their next bounty. She laughed when Groot began to drink from the water fountain that Rocket was perched on. He was such a tall, weird tree, but she loved him regardless.

"Lunch is served, my friends!" Sitting down on the edge of the fountain, Moonie tossed the tree-like humanoid his portion before passing one off to Rocket. The woman then ripped open her portion and bit into the large piece of jerky to satisfy her lurking hunger from their long morning.

"Xandarians," Rocket muttered as he peered through his scope at the city around them. "What a bunch of losers. All of them in a big hurry to get from something stupid to nothing at all. Pathetic."

Moonie chuckled. "What is up with you and Xandarians recently?"

Rocket shrugged, then her friend's mouth curved into a smirk when he caught sight of a short blonde-haired boy walking along the sidewalk. "Look at this guy! Can you believe they call us criminals when he's assaulting us with that haircut?" He began mocking the boy by talking in a different voice, "What is this thing? Look how it thinks it's so cool." Rocket scoffed. "It's not cool to get help! Walk by yourself, you little gargoyle."

Rocket smacked him on the back of the head after noticing that he was mocking a small child who was only holding onto its mother's hand. "Rocket, come on, that's a kid! He doesn't even look old enough to walk all on his own yet. Give him a break."

Rocket waved her off. "Yeah, yeah . . ."

Rolling her eyes, Monnie glanced back towards the small boy who was now jumping with glee in his spot as a man with similar features knelt down to wrap him in a hug. It was his father by the looks of it, as the man then stood and wrapped the mother in a hug, kissing her sweetly. The sight caused Moonie's chest to tighten and her smile to falter, leaving a frown in its place.

Monnie never had parents growing up. The High Evolutionary told her that her mother died in childbirth. While she had hoped that he was lying, as he always did, Monnie couldn't help but feel that he wasn't. The High Evolutionary never cared about any of his subjects, they were nothing but experiments to him. Things he could pick apart and put back together whenever he wanted. Moonie couldn't even imagine the pain her mother must have suffered for her to die bringing her into the world.

"Ha!" Rocket laughed before turning and nudging Monnie out her thoughts. "Check out Mr. Smiles over here. Where's your wife, old man? What a class-A prevent." He laughed, and even Monnie managed a small smile despite the sadness she felt as she peered up at the bridge above them, where an elderly Xanadrian man was flirting with a woman that could easily be his granddaughter.

"Well, that's disturbing," Monnie said, her nose crinkling in disgust.

"Right?" Rocket laughed. He turned to get Groot's attention so he could see for himself, only to find the tree drinking water from the fountain. "Don't drink fountain water, you idiot. That's disgusting!"

Groot hummed, claiming that he hadn't been drinking from it all at, which caused Rocket to give him a look. "Yes, you were. I just saw you doing it. Why are you lying?"

Groot looked at Monnie. "I am Groot?"

"Yeah, I don't know what he's talking about either, Groot. I never even saw you drinking from the fountain." Monnie tossed the tree a wink as she went back to eating her jerky and avoiding Rocket's frustrated gaze. Her friend groaned and ran a hand down his face, which caused her to smirk.

Rocket's tablet then began beeping, informing them of a new bounty. "Whoop! Looks like we got one."

"Finally!" Monnie exclaimed. She scooted closer to get a better look at the tablet. She saw two people. A man and a woman with copper hair. Both from Terra. They appeared to be wearing the same maroon-coloured leather jackets, causing Moonie to believe they either shared the same style or were part of a group.

"Okay, humies, how bad does someone wanna find you?" Rocket muttered as the screen began to process and display their bounty price and information, including their names, Peter and Mallory Quill. The amount caused Moonie to nearly choke on her jerky.

"Holy shit!"

"Forty thousand units?" Rocket's eyes went wide. "Groot, Moonie . . . we're gonna be rich." The pair shared a smile before looking behind them at Groot, who they found drinking from the water fountain again. Rocket sighed and shook his head.

"Alright, Groot, I think you've had enough," Moonie told him, causing the tree to frown and back away, mumbling, "I am Groot."

"It's fine, you did nothing wrong," she reassured the apologetic-looking tree, "but you've gotta get your head in the game here. We've got the biggest bounty on our hands at play here and we can't let those two slip through our fingers."

"Exactly," Rocket nodded. "Alright, here's the plan . . ."

After Rocket explained the plan to them, Moonie gave a nod and went into position. She climbed the stairs up to the bridge and relaxed against the metal bars, where she would wait to flirt with Peter Quill which would give Rocket and Groot enough time to come up behind him and capture him in their knapsack before they'd do the same with Mallory Quill. It was sure to be a foolproof plan. Or at least they hoped it would be.

She spared a glance down to the other end of the bridge, where her eyes fell upon Peter Quill talking with a green-skinned woman who had pink-streaked hair. Moonie only knew one person with pink streaks in her hair, and the sight of the Titan's daughter caused Moonie to sigh.

"Perfect," she mumbled under her breath. What the hell is she even doing here? She knew that Gamora was bound to interfere with their bounty somehow, and not even a full minute later, she was right.

Gamora snatched the metal ball from Peter's hand, threw a kick into his gut, then turned and ran in Moonie's direction down the bridge. Moonie watched closely as Peter quickly gathered his bearings before throwing something at Gamora. The green-skinned woman collapsed as a red sparkling rope unraveled from a small device and wrapped itself around her legs.

The Titan's daughter dropped the metal ball in the process and quickly flipped onto her back to work on removing the rope from her legs. Just as she got herself free, Gamora laid another kick into Peter's chest as he went to jump on top of her. He landed beside her, which caused Moonie's eyes to widen when the man grunted in pain from the multiple strikes sent by Gamora.

If Gamora hurts him too badly, would we even get paid our forty thousand units?

"Damn it," she muttered, knowing that she had to intervene before Gamora could bruise her bounty up too much.

Just as she began to approach them, Gamora shoved her boot down onto Peter's hand and raised her knife, prepared to end his life. Moonie's eyes widened, and she kicked herself to run faster towards them when suddenly, Rocket threw his body into Gamora and knocked her away. Moonie sighed in relief and came to an abrupt stop, glancing down at Gamora as the green-skinned woman grunted in pain.

"Where were you? She almost killed him!" Rocket exclaimed, looking at Moonie with wide eyes as he struggled to restrain Gamora by locking himself around her head. The green-skinned woman flailed around and tried to get him off her head to no avail.

Moonie gaped at him, unable to believe that he was blaming her for what happened. It wasn't like she knew that Gamora would be on Xandar and intervene with their business. "Me? I was in my assigned position! Following your plan, remember?"

"Now isn't the time!" Rocket shouted back at her. "Groot, put him in the bag. Put him in the bag!" He ordered, glancing toward Groot, who came up behind them with the large knapsack. Groot gave a nod and extended his roots, which began to wrap around Gamora instead of the man, causing Moonie to sigh.

"No, not her! Him! Learn genders, man," Rocket shouted at Groot, before pointing over Moonie's shoulder. "Moonie, don't let him get away!"

Moonie instantly turned around when she heard those words, and she saw that Peter Quill was now fleeing down the bridge with the metal ball in his hand. She took off running after him, and just as she was about to reach him, a body collided with her own. The impact caused a surge of pain to erupt in her side as she and her mysterious attacker fell to the ground and rolled multiple times, nearly falling off the bridge.

Peter stopped running and instantly ran over, helping Mallory up from the ground before handing her the metal ball and telling her to run. As the woman nodded her head, Moonie noticed how their features were so similar that it almost looked like they were related. They did share the same last name, after all.

"I'll cover you, Mal, go!" Peter told her as the woman ran away.

Suddenly enraged, Moonie got to her feet and charged at the man. She threw a few punches, some of which the man blocked and others causing him to grunt. When he was hunched over, holding his gut as the air was momentarily knocked from his lungs, Moonie had an opportunity to swipe his legs out from underneath him, and she took it. He fell to the ground and she smirked down at him, saying, "Nothing personal, Quail."

"It's Quill," he groaned.

Monnie ignored him and turned to run after Mallory Quill, trusting that Rocket and Groot would be able to handle Peter now that she had him subdued. However, she didn't get very far, as someone grabbed her ankle and pulled her down to the ground. She landed with a grunt and looked up, watching as Gamora ran by in pursuit of Mallory.

Groaning in annoyance, Moonie began trying to kick Peter away from her legs, but he was rather persistent and continued to crawl on top of her body to restrain her. Moonie felt her body grow warm when their skin touched, but she quickly pushed those feelings away. Yes, the man was undeniably handsome, but now was most definitely not the time to be having those thoughts.

As they continued to fight, Moonie began to wonder just who Mallory Quill was to him. A sister? A cousin? His wife, perhaps? Furrowing her brows while fighting against Peter in hand-to-hand combat, she thought in confusion, wait . . . why do I care?

All she really cared about right now was capturing Peter and Mallory Quill and collecting their bounty.

Focus, Moonie! She thought to herself, moving her head just in time to dodge a punch being thrown at her. She then pushed Peter off her body with all the strength that she could muster and quickly climbed to her feet. Sparing a quick glance over the side of the bridge, Moonie noticed that Mallory Quill was now a level below her and was battling with Gamora over the metal ball. She didn't see Rocket or Groot anywhere, nor did she have time to look for them as Peter was back on his feet and in a fighting stance with his fists raised, lip busted, and hair disheveled, prepared to attack her again.

Monnie cocked a brow in his direction. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

"Nope," Peter smirked.

She smirked back while lowering her hands down to her sides, causing him to look at her in confusion. Moonie then used the only good thing that came from all of the pain she suffered as a child and activated her ability. Her body glowed a soft white hue, allowing her to travel through matter and pass through the bottom of the bridge and land safely on the ground below. Smirking up at the dumbfound man that was now peering down over the side of bridge at her, Moonie gave him a mock salute before turning on her heel and running towards Rocket and Groot. And just in time too, as they finally captured Mallory Quill in a knapsack.

"Quit smiling, you idiot. You're supposed to be a professional," Rocket said to Groot as she came to a stop at their side. "Where the hell were you?"

"The man was persistent," Monnie explained. "Don't worry, he cares for that woman, so he'll be easy to capture once we deal with her accordingly."

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Rocket sighed as he looked past Moonie and towards Gamora, who was suddenly making her way towards them. He barely had time to warn Monnie about the Titan's daughter before Gamora was shoving the three of them aside so she could get to the knapsack. "Hey!"

Monnie climbed to her feet just as Gamora cut off Groot's arm. With a snarl, she went to throw her body into Gamora's, when suddenly, she felt a terrible pain spread throughout her body. She cried out as she hit the ground from the electrical currents spreading throughout her body. Glancing up, she found Peter smirking down at her with a blaster gun in his hand.

"Nothing personal," Peter repeated her words from the bridge with a faint smirk, before he ran past her and toward the knapsack to free Mallory.

Monnie continued to writhe around on the ground in pain as the electrical currents from the blast forbade her from doing anything but that. Eventually, the currents seized, but her body felt numb with a dull pain that tingled in her bones. She groaned, turning her head from side to side, and she let out an exasperated sigh when she noticed that the Nova Corps had them surrounded.

"Subject 89P13, drop your weapon," Monnie heard over the intercom. She knew that the Nova Corps were talking to Rocket, and she turned her head to watch as her friend reluctantly dropped his weapon.

Not much later, Monnie felt a kick to her side. Someone then forced her onto her stomach, shoving their knee into her spine and roughly taking her arms and clasping restraints around her wrists. "By the authority of the Nova Corps, you, Subject 78N14, are hereby under arrest."

"Perfect," Monnie mumbled under her breath.

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a/n: Ugh, it feels so good to be writing for the Guardians again, I won't lie. I've missed writing this fic and these characters so much. Also, I hope that you enjoyed that little sliver of Monnie's powers you got this chapter, they're going to be a fun dynamic for the group for sure! I'm excited to reveal more about her powers and what else she is capable of doing!