[center][h2]THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY[/h2]
[b]IN[/b]
[h2]RAMBLE ON[/h2][/center]
[hr]
The four Guardians and their new charge tumbled through the darkness towards an unknown fate, before splashing down into a pool of clear, clean, and cold water. Thor came back up, breaking the surface with the small, green girl clinging tightly to his neck. Her grip was strong, but not strong enough to cut of his air. He was a god after all. It would take more than a child to take him down in such a situation. He looked back and met her eyes. She was scared. Of course she would be. But there was a determination to survive in them as well. She had to have that to have survived for this long in such circumstances.

He looked around, seeing that Rocket was now afloat on Groot, who bobbed up and down like driftwood in the calm waters. Quill treaded water next to them.

"Is everyone unharmed?" the God of Thunder asked his comrades. 

"My guns better still work," Rocket grumbled. "I hate when they get wet. They're not supposed to get this wet."

"Seriously?" Quill shot back at the little mammal. "That's what you're worried about right now!?"

"They are expensive!" Rocket bared his teeth. "I understand that you don't appreciate the finer things in life, but that doesn't mean we can't."

"I am Groot."

"You're right, buddy, he is a simpleton," Rocket chuckled.

"He didn't say that," Quill rolled his eyes.

"I am Groot."

"Yea, that is rude. I agree," Rocket patted the living tree's head. 

"Enough."

Thor's word rung through the cave with force, silencing their bickering. The three Guardians that were with him were strong and capable warriors, but they were still nowhere near what he would consider a team. During the days of Asgard, Thor had the Warriors Three, Lady Sif, and Heimdall by his side when he was on the battle field. There were none that could stand up to them when they stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Maybe one day Thor and these misfits would turn out to be just as strong of a fighting force, but the others would have to learn to work together before that would be possible. So far that was looking unlikely. 

"Rocket," he started calling out orders, "can you find a beach? Or shallows where we can stand? If those creatures are here, and they find us like this, we will certainly end up as their meal."

"Yea, sure," was his response. "Let me just get a flare out. Should give us a clear view of the cave."

Suddenly, a blinding white light exploded before him and flew up, illuminating the domed-cave that surrounded them. Thor could see the hole they had just fallen through, as well as a beach about one hundred meters away, "There. A beach. Once we're there we can find our way out."

"Uh...we should probably get there pretty fast," Quill's voice was filled with fear.

Thor followed his eyes up to the roof of the domed cave. Where once had been what seemed to be black rock was now looked like a night's sky of stars. Hundreds of them gleamed down at the five of them in the cold underground lake. But they were not stars. They were the eyes of the creatures staring back down at them hungrily. There were more here than in the Asgardian cache on the dead planet. That much was for certain. 

"Move!" Thor growled and the three swimmers were making haste towards the beach. The cold water slowed the others' movements, but not Thor. The cold was in his blood. He liked it. It fueled him. It gave him something to fight against, and that was always where he was at his strongest.

As they moved through the deep, black waters, he heard things falling around them. Usually one would have to worry about a cave in when hearing that in normal situations. This was no normal situation however. He knew the creatures were now in the water with them. More were joining with every swimming stroke. All it would take was one to get below the Guardians for them to end up a snack. They needed to get to that beach, and fast.

When they were merely yards from the beach, Thor felt a clawed, exoskeletoned hand wrap around his ankle and yank him below the surface of the water. He felt the girl panic on his back. She would not last long under the surface, and it would be easy for another creature to snatch her off his back and she would be gone forever. He would not let that happen. He reared back with his free leg and slammed it hard into the clawed appendage. He felt the insectoid's grip loosen as the arm popped off of its owner. Thor and his charge broke back above the water, where he found vines stretching from Groot's arms towards them. Thor grabbed hold, and the tree pulled them swiftly towards the shore.

Once they were there, he let the girl off his shoulders and he took Jarnbjorn off his back. All around them the creatures stormed their way. 

"There's a cave back that way," Quill motioned behind him. "Looks like it leads...somewhere."

"That terrible choice of words is unfortunately the best we got," Rocket admitted. "Should we head that way and die in a small cave, or stay here and die in a big one?"

Thor's mind was racing with possibilities. The tunnel could lead to an ambush of more creatures. It could be a dead end. But it was probably the only chance any of them had to survive. 

"Quill, you and Rocket take the girl through the tunnel. Find a way out. I will ensure this filth does not enter the tunnel."

"Thor, no," Quill shook his head. "You can't sacrifice yourself here. Not now. Come on, we'll all go."

"Nay, Peter Quill," Thor shook his head. "This is not where I die. But if it somehow is, I need you to find Niðavellir, the land of the dwarves. Tell them of the symbol we saw here. They will be able to tell you the rest."

"But-" Quill was cut off.

"No time for parting tears, fly boy!" Rocket yelled as he took his guns out of his holsters and began firing at the creatures on the ceiling who were now trying to cut them off from the tunnel. "We gotta go!"

Quill met Thor's eyes. The boy may have been a mere mortal, and not all that special of one. But he had courage, and sometimes that was enough to make one special. He would have died with Thor. The Asgardian could see that now. It was touching, even if he didn't think he deserved that dedication. He broke the gaze as one of the insectoids charged up the beach. Thor decapitated it with his large axe.

He walked backwards towards the mouth of the tunnel, swinging the great blade left and right, slashing through the exoskeleton armor of the approaching horde. None of them seemed to feel pain. There was only one, all-consuming goal, and that was to rip the Guardians limb-from-limb. They were like robots, alive only to finish their goal.

As terrifying as the situation would be for a mere mortal, Thor was not that. The blood that splattered on him after every strike Jarnbjorn was true seemed to empower him even more than usual. It was the berserker blood lust that he knew all too well. Often he would try and hide it, especially when fighting sentient beings. But now this was all he had to keep him alive. He would kill every single one of these abominations if it meant his comrades would escape unharmed.

Thor reached the cave mouth and set up a wide, powerful stance that would allow him to guard the entrance fully. The creatures may be able to get around him some other way, but he would kill all that tried him here. As he prepared for the next wave, a large rock from the cave flew by him and smashed into two of the approaching creatures. He turned to find the tree standing next to him.

"I am Groot."

"Thank you, my friend," he smiled mischievously. "It is an honor to fight by your side." 
[hr]
On the other side of the galaxy, sparks crackle around the mighty hammer Mjolnir.