"I always thought there were only six of us in the Detective Club."
The first week of November—or, more accurately, the first half-week—was a holiday.
Due to the symbiote invasion causing chaos throughout Manhattan, all schools in the area had announced closures until next Monday, the 5th. This meant Peter got two extra days off.
It was during this time that he received a text from Jessica, the club president: the Detective Club was holding a team-building event in Puerto Rico—because all members had successfully passed the Science Olympiad quiz.
Peter had honestly believed the school's Detective Club was on the verge of shutting down and that it really only had six members: the president, Jessica; the vice president, Felicia; and four first-year students. He assumed the "lurkers" in the social group were just burner accounts the club president had created to make it look like there were more people.
But now, they all suddenly came out of the woodwork—over sixty people in total.
Peter scratched his head. The scale of this event was much larger than he had anticipated. Over sixty people just from the Detective Club, not to mention other students. Midtown High School truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier high school that collaborated with Oscorp and Stark Industries. As a public high school in America, it was incredible that it could produce so many academically gifted students.
After some thought, Peter sat down at his desk. He didn't have a reason to write a diary, but he needed to make a checklist and get things done. Today was the 2nd, and he wanted to handle as much as he could before the 11th.
"Let's see. First, there's Doctor Octopus. He actually escaped. I don't know if I'll be able to catch him... Then, I need to go to the Raft prison to see some old friends. And there's the USB drive Felicia gave me. I need to go to the lab to figure out what's on it. Katie is joining the Xavier Institute, and Cyclops told me to go take a look, too. Oh, and the Baxter Building..."
Oh, one more thing.
While things were quiet, he needed to make a trip to Oscorp to see Dr. Curt Connors.
Meanwhile, across the galaxy, something far from pleasant was happening.
With a terrifying tremor, a planet's surface erupted in a massive tidal wave that shot into the sky. On closer inspection, the wave wasn't made of water but of rolling magma.
It was magma that had been directly flung from the planet's surface by a fierce battle.
A man with two energy guns, sprinting toward his spaceship, immediately opened the rear hatch and motioned for his companions to hurry and take cover inside.
"Go, go, go! Groot, what are you dawdling for!"
This man was the legendary Star-Lord, an unknown Earthling named Peter Quill. The first to rush inside was Rocket, the genetically enhanced raccoon who was always complaining. He was followed by his large, childlike companion, Groot, a Flora Colossus. Then came Gamora, the famous adopted daughter of Thanos, the Mad Titan, with her green skin. Behind her was Mantis, a woman with two small antennae on her head who could sense emotions through touch.
Finally, a man with gray-green skin and many red scars stood at the hatch, watching the rising magma wave with a blank expression.
Star-Lord was at his breaking point.
"Drax?! What are you doing!"
"The Warlock hasn't returned yet."
"Oh, for crying out loud." Star-Lord rushed to pull Drax into the ship, yelling toward the cockpit while dragging him. "Rocket! Start the engines now!"
"Already on it."
The giant raccoon said as he pushed the engine's thrust to the maximum. In an instant, the ship broke through the planet's atmosphere and sped off into the galaxy.
Superheroes don't just exist on Earth; they exist throughout the vast universe. While the Avengers protected Earth, a heroic team called the Guardians of the Galaxy protected the galaxy.
For a fee.
As the planet's surface tore apart, the entire planet began to disintegrate, breaking into countless pieces. Amidst the silent shock of the Guardians of the Galaxy, they saw a man shimmering with blue light fly out of the shattered planet. He seemed to be in a daze as he grazed past their ship and flew off somewhere unknown.
"On the bright side, at least the Kree paid us for the ship's damages," Rocket said from the cockpit. Peter Quill wearily walked over to the gunner's seat and slumped down. Bang! A man with golden skin and an orange gem embedded in his forehead crashed into the ship's front window, startling Star-Lord.
"Uh, does this broken ship have wipers, Quill?"
"Nope. I'll go get that guy in. Oh, wait, Gamora's already going in her spacesuit. Get the airlock ready."
As Gamora brought their last teammate into the ship, everyone gathered around him, staring. Drax said with a hint of surprise, "Our Warlock is still alive."
"He has an Infinity Stone embedded in his forehead. That's a relic Thanos himself is after."
"But he survived a planet exploding," Drax added. Gamora ignored the brute. Star-Lord stared at the Warlock, then looked at Mantis. "Mantis? Wake him up."
"Ah!"
Before Mantis could act, the Warlock jolted awake, startling everyone. But the now-conscious Warlock only weakly grabbed Star-Lord. "Peter, I... I couldn't stop that person."
"You did your best, Adam. Get up first," Star-Lord said, helping the Warlock, Adam, to his feet. But he found that the man was still clinging to him. Adam clutched Star-Lord, pleading.
"We have to stop him, Quill. You have to stop him. He's going to destroy one planet after another."
"Stop a guy who can blow up an entire planet?"
Rocket grumbled, "Forget it. Even if someone was willing to pay us for this job, we'd have to survive to spend the money."
The Guardians of the Galaxy were a heroic organization—only Adam Warlock truly believed that.
"We have to do this!"
Adam's roar startled everyone. Star-Lord quickly tried to calm him down. "I understand, Adam. We're not saying we won't go, but we don't know who he is, what he wants, or where he's going. How are we supposed to stop him?"
"I know," Adam said, staring at Star-Lord. "When I touched him, I understood who he was and where he was going."
"His name is Michael Korvac. He's going to your home planet, Quill. He's going to Earth."