“No.”, “Yes.”, “No.”, “Yes…” Nikki slammed a fist down on the table. “You have got to be kidding me. That’s your most ‘important manner?!” “It is important Princess. It’s to keep you safe and secure.”, “No that is forcing me to stay here. I know the law I’m not foolish…” She turned to one of the head elders, a large short plump purple alien with pointed ears and squirrel cheeks. “No offense.” Her statement was quick and she ignored the disapproval from the alien before looking back at Advicus. “To do what you’re proposing is against my will and I shall not be a part of it.” “If you know the law Princess then you know that…”, “Yes I know. But I also know it’s my choice.”, “You have less than a day to make that choice or the choice will be made for you.” Nikki opened her mouth to respond before Advicus continued, “I become your legal guardian after your parents died and no one else can represent your planet. This arrangement is in your best interest and in ours. I will, however, give you 12 hours to find someone else. After that you will agree to our arrangement and we will move onto more important things at hand.” “More important things…” Nikki began to argue with Advicus before an alarm went off in the building. “What is that?” The council rose up slowly from their seats looking annoyed. “Excuse me why aren’t we worried about the sound?” “People are about to throw a fuss about you being here. We are prepared for such a situation. Follow me.” Advicus gestured in an opposite direction the council was going. He and her walked down the hallway before getting to a balcony. Nikki stepped out behind him before raising her small caramel colored hand up to block the sun from her eyes as they adjusted to the sun. Her gaze moved to the ground to see the Guardians were still there and Nova Prime and taken off into the air. Before she could wave at them, Nova was level with the balcony. “Nova, please keep the party crashers at bay…” “Attention high council.” A voice said as a few ships showed up, each with their own interesting design housing about five people in each of the three ships. “This is a warning. If you make the last Metra a member of the high council, you will regret it.” The voice was sinister but almost laughing at itself. “It’s not as wise of a decision as you’d think. And we’re going to demonstrate why.” The bottoms of the ship opened and people began to fall out and land upon the grounds of the streets. Blades and weapons drawn and heading towards the Guardians. “Even the Guardians don’t stand a chance.” “Nova, change of plans; escort the princess to the safe house until further notice.”, “Yes sir…”, “Oh hell no, I’m not leaving them to get their asses kicked! That’s a lot of people!!” She said with a surprise before the Nova plucked her from the balcony and into his arms. “Rick let me go at once. I will fight with them, they don’t deserve this!”, “They’ll be fine.” He said in soft tone as he wrapped his arms around her and began to fly again, taking her away from the scene. Her hand was reached out back to them, indicating she didn’t want to go. If they were to be fighting because of her, she wanted to be there with them. --- The safe house was filled with the high council and the council members that were present in the building. They all seemed to gasp at the arrival of the Metra, the ones that were not members of the high council because they didn’t know she was even there and the high council members because of her reaction when she was sat down. “Take me back there! Right now!” “I’ve been requested to keep you in safety here at the safe house until further notice.” “Don’t pretend like regulations are at stack here, it’s those people’s lives. That’s a lot of people going after them! Let me help, take me back right now!!”, “I can’t do that princess, this is where you’ll be safe.”, “But they aren’t safe!”, “I’m sorry Princess but I have my orders to follow.” With that Nikki stormed inside the safe house and slammed the door shut behind her. --- The next hour consisted of her forcing herself to talk to people. The aliens from all over were nice and welcoming, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she felt relaxed like no one was going to attack her. But that didn’t excuse the nagging feeling she had about the guardians. It took the hour before they were allowed to return to the building. Of course, most of everything was cleaned up and everyone was gone but that didn’t stop Nikki. “What happened? Where are the guardians? Are they okay?” Questions flew out of her a million miles an hour before she finally got any responses. “They are alright,” One of the guards began to explain. “Beaten up but they are alright. No one’s badly injured but they’re at the hospital getting patched up.” Another guard chimed in, “You know, I didn’t expect them to fight as well as they do, it was rather impressive.” Rick made some noise behind her and she shot him a dirty look before looking back at the guards. “Well they’re pretty impressive and rather nice people when you get to know them. Now.” She reached forward, grabbing one of them by the collar of their shirt and yanked him towards her. “Tell me where the guardians are.” Her voice was so deep and threatening that the guard shook in his boots. “Okay okay I’ll tell you!!” Nikki arrived as swiftly to the nearby hospital and nearly blew the doors open as she hurried inside. Arriving at the counter the women behind it scared at her in shock. Obviously they had heard of the last Metra being on the planet but they didn’t expect her to come running in dressed in a nice dress, heels and her hair up. Nor were they counting on her asking for the Guardians. She was pointed down a hallway and given a room number, in her hand was a crumpled up piece of paper and she was dripping with sweat like she was running from someone. In her rush down the hall she saw into a few of the rooms. Drax was grinning away looking down at the scars covering his body, saying something about a ‘new battle’, Gamora was making faces as she was getting stitched up on her arm, aside from that she looked alright. And Groot and Rocket were sitting on one of the beds talking to a beautiful nurse who seemed to be giggling at the things that Rocket was saying while Groot swayed back and forth to the music. Reaching the door labeled Peter Quill, Nikki checked his chart, a few cuts and bruises but he was okay. Nikki knocked lightly on the door and heard something from inside. “Quill?” She questioned softly as she opened the door and stepped inside. A large sigh of relief left her as she finally saw him. “Oh thank god you’re okay!"