Peter Quill had spent the morning wandering. Cosmicdude had told him where and when he would find the first target, but the shiny stone bracelet he'd been given much have been broken or something--it got him to Earth hours before he needed to be to run into the first target. Which was stupid. Why would he want to just waste time on one of Earth's biggest cities? There were reasons he hadn't returned to Earth, even when he had the chance before. 

Like, at least two good reasons. 

He wasn't comfortable on Earth. This was reinforced when he followed a smoking hot chick (because what else was he going to do with hours to kill but walk around and scope out the chicks?) into a book store. Some young punk pointed at the walkmen on his belt and laughed at it, like it was a relic from a forgotten time. Like it was worth pointing at and pointing out. Worse, the hot chick he'd been scoping out chuckled at it, too...but that was okay because then she smiled at him. And called it cute.

So screw that kid 

But the worst of it was that he wanted something to drink, and maybe a snack, but Earth didn't take credits. And when he tried to find a place to exchange credits for dollars, he couldn't find a bank where the teller didn't laugh at him. Who knew his home planet was filled with a bunch of jerks? Just another reason for him to not come back; that everyone on the planet seemed to be a jerk. 

But there were the hot chicks, too, so it lead to a debate in his head as he leaned against a brick building on a street corner and waited. Cosmicdude said he'd know the target when he saw him; walking duck. Which just sounded stupid, almost as stupid as a walking plant, or a walking, talking, Raccoon. 

Almost, anyway.

"Hey, Duck." Star Lord piped up as he saw the duck waddle forth, coming off the wall with a light kick of his heel, moving a few feet to stand in front of the duck. "Universe is ending. Big cosmic looking dude told me where and when to find you; said this would be more important than a...Hou." [i]Whatever that meant.[/i] "You wanna help? Some big reward in it for you," Quill added, giving the Duck the lie as instructed by the cosmicdude.