Rocket Raccoon

Rocket Raccoon understood why Jean Grey wasn’t exactly thrilled with his plan to defeat Knull. He had just informed her that she was going to have to sacrifice herself in order to make it work. When Jean asked to hear the full details of Rocket’s scheme before deciding to go along with it, it seemed only fair. And Rocket was more than glad to spell everything out if it helped her come to terms with her part in it.

“A while back, my ship crashed into Klyntar and got stuck in the planet’s symbiotic surface,” Rocket said. “At first, I didn’t know how to get it out, but then I built a gizmo that worked on the same principle as Captain Marvel’s old Nega-Bands. It swapped the ship’s physical location with a Celestial Husk in orbit over Klyntar and — BOOM! — problem solved!”

“Impressive…” Jean said, “…but how does that help us against Knull?”

Rocket rifled through a pouch on his uniform pulled out a pair of circuit boards.

“If you rush in, ready to impale yourself on that nasty sword of his,” Rocket said, “Knull won’t even notice you’re wearin’ a portable version of that tech. As he revels in his victory, Venom will sneak in and slip one onto him, too. Then, once you’re reborn in the White Hot Room, I can activate the sequence and — switcheroo! Knull gets annihilated by the light while you’re returned back to us, safe and sound. In theory, at least... I can’t guarantee the tech will work across dimensional planes. But everythin’ else we’ve tried has already failed. This might be our last chance…”

“Then it’s one we have to take…” Jean agreed, grabbing Rocket’s circuit board and running towards the last place they had seen the King in Black. “I came here to stop Knull, and I plan to see it through… no matter the cost.”

“Whoa! Hold on a minute, Red!” Rocket said, a bit of panic in his voice. “I gotta calibrate a few things first if we actually wanna pull this off! Gimme, like, five minutes and then you can go right back to gettin’ yourself skewered. Promise.”

As Phoenix and Venom huddled together to discuss the details of Rocket’s elaborate plan, Rocket found a secluded spot near the entrance of a cave. He sat down and removed some tools from the pouches on his belt, then began to tinker with the second Nega-Energy Replicator board. It was delicate work that required absolute focus, so Rocket didn’t even notice when the ground beneath him started to shift.

“Rocket!” a voice yelled from nearby. “Look out!”

“Huh?” Rocket said, looking up from his work to see the Scarlet Witch flying towards him at top speed. It looked like she was about to attack him, but that didn’t make any sense. They were on the same side… weren’t they? Rocket instinctively reached for his blaster cannon, but as he did, he felt a sharp pain course through his body. By the time he realized what had just happened, it was too late. He was already trapped in the jaws of a giant symbiote dragon!

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!” Rocket groaned as he tried with all of his might to struggle free from the dragon’s mouth. But with every movement, the creature’s teeth sunk deeper into Rocket’s flesh. Rocket tossed the Nega-Energy Replicator a safe distance away and then reached down and grabbed a quantum grenade from his belt, ready to detonate it if needed. He knew full well that the blast would obliterate him as well, but if it stopped this monster from messing up his master plan, it would ultimately be worth it.

“If I’m gonna be your last meal,” he yelled, “I sure as flark ain’t gonna go down easy!”

“You won’t be anyone’s meal today,” Scarlet Witch said as she released a wave of chaos magic from her hands that surrounded the symbiote dragon. “To be fair, you’re barely an appetizer.”

Rocket let out a painful laugh as the dragon’s jaws began to loosen their grip on him. It was enough for him to be able to push free… right in time to watch the Scarlet Witch’s spell break the enormous beast down into a puddle of undulating goop.

“That’ll teach ya to mess with a Guardian of the Galaxy!” Rocket shouted at the puddle, firing at the writhing sludge with his blaster cannon.

“I think we beat him,” Scarlet Witch said reassuringly as she stood next to Rocket, “but I fear it may have been a bit too late.”

“What are ya talkin’ about?” Rocket asked, putting on a brave face as he tried to dismiss the severity of his wounds. “I’m perfectly… fine…”

But Rocket knew otherwise the second he saw the sparks shooting out from several of the puncture wounds that had been left behind by the dragon’s fangs. There was no hiding the fact that Rocket's cybernetic implants had been severely damaged. These devices were so deeply integrated into Rocket's biological systems that he would barely be able to function if they were compromised. And to make matters worse, they were so highly sophisticated that only Rocket's original modifier — or someone with intimate knowledge of his body — would be able to build and install replacements.

“You gotta find Groot for me…” Rocket said to the Scarlet Witch as he fell to his knees. “Tell him I’m sorry… That I didn’t wanna go out this way… And that he doesn’t need me to watch his back anymore…”

The Scarlet Witch immediately began to cast a healing spell to protect Rocket, but the furry fighter knew it would take more than magic to save him now. It would take a miracle. And Klyntar wasn’t exactly the kind of planet where people’s prayers tended to be answered. So what happened next took Rocket by complete surprise.

Another symbiote slithered its way over to the wounded Rocket. Unlike the dragon that had unleashed its vicious surprise attack earlier, this symbiote moved slowly and cautiously, putting itself in clear sight so that Rocket was aware of its arrival. And for some reason, Rocket felt no reason to be afraid of this creature. In fact, its presence felt almost comforting. And Rocket realized why as soon as the symbiote touched his fur-covered hand.

Earlier, when the Guardians of the Galaxy first returned to Klyntar, they were attacked by a horde of symbiotes that forcefully bonded with them, momentarily causing the heroes to fall under the thrall of Knull. Thanks to the indomitable spirit of Jeff the Land Shark, the symbiotes were broken free from their hivemind, restoring the Guardians’ free will. Although the encounter had ended quickly, the bond that Rocket had formed with his symbiotic partner must have lasted… because here it was again in his time of need…

As the symbiote enveloped Rocket’s entire body, he could feel it seeping into his wounds, as if thoroughly examining every damaged component inside of him. Then, without warning, the symbiote removed itself from Rocket and reshaped its protoplasmic form, creating slimy tendrils that each ended in what looked like specialized tools.

Rocket could only watch in confusion as the symbiote began to repurpose parts from his own blaster to craft temporary replacements for his implants. With surgical precision, the symbiote installed the components into Rocket's body. As soon as they began to power up, Rocket could tell that he was going to be okay. He couldn’t fully understand how, but this symbiote knew exactly what to do to save his life. And he wasn’t about to waste his second chance.

Pushing himself back onto his feet, Rocket found the Nega-Energy Replicator he had been working on earlier. He made a few finishing touches and rushed off to find Jean Grey and Venom. Soon the battle with Knull would finally be over… and when it was, Rocket had plenty of questions that needed to be answered…

LATER.

“…and then the little guy put me back together again, good as new,” Rocket said, recounting the tale of his unusual experience on Klyntar.

“Not quite as good as new…” said Reed Richards as he examined Rocket under the scanners in his lab at the Baxter Building, “…but certainly good enough. I should be able to handle the rest from here. Still, for a symbiote, it did a shockingly thorough job of repairing your internal systems. The question is… how?”

“I was wonderin’ the same thing, Doc,” Rocket said. “I’m guessin’ that, when I first bonded with the thing, it got full access to my memories… includin’ ones I didn’t even realize I had. Like ones from way back when I first got my implants.”

“That might make sense,” Reed said, “but only if you had engineered and installed the components yourself. Logically, it might have known the locations of your implants from the frequent injuries you’ve suffered over the years, or even from body scans you may have seen. But it’s highly unlikely it would have known how to fabricate functioning replacements. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Rocket asked as Reed trailed off into deep thought. “Don’t leave me hangin’ here!”

“Unless,” Reed continued, “the symbiote had previously bonded with someone who not only understood the enhancement process you underwent, but who also knew you personally and intimately. Someone from your world, perhaps…”

“Not many folks left out there who fit that bill,” Rocket mused. “And I ain’t got a clue where my little symbiote savior slithered off to after he fixed me up, so I guess we’ve got no way of figurin’ it out.”

“Actually, we do,” Reed replied. “From studying Peter’s old suit, which I suppose is the Venom symbiote now, over the years, I’ve learned that when a symbiote bonds with a host, it leaves behind a trace of itself in the host’s body called a codex. This genetic imprint not only identifies the symbiote itself, but also every other host it has ever bonded with. It’s more than just a fingerprint. It’s a family tree, if you will.”

“Well, then I gotta know who else has been climbin’ around in those branches!” Rocket said.

“Let me see,” Reed said, grabbing another device and running it along the length of Rocket’s spine. “Hmmm… that’s curious… According to my scans, there are traces of all sorts of alien DNA in the codex. That’s to be expected, I suppose. But there’s also something that is a near-perfect match for a species found here on Earth.”

“Really?” Rocket inquired. “Back on Halfworld, they experimented on all sorts of animals. I may be the very best of the lot, but it’s possible someone else got off that miserable planet and made their way to Klyntar. The question is, who?”

“All I can say for sure is that they had the characteristics surprisingly similar to the genetic subfamily Lutrinae,” Reed replied.

“That don’t ring any bells,” Rocket said, scratching his furry head.

“Here on Earth, we more commonly call them otters,” Reed added.

Rocket’s eyes went wide. There was only one otter he knew back on Halfworld, and she knew him more intimately than anyone else in the galaxy, including Groot.

“Lylla…” Rocket whispered under his breath in astonishment.

He couldn’t believe his old friend was still out there somewhere. But the fact that they had both bonded with the same symbiote couldn’t be just a coincidence. And it wasn’t a miracle either. It was a sign. A sign that he had to find her. Rocket had no way of knowing where Lyla was now, but he was willing to scour the entire galaxy to find out. It was another plan he had to see through… no matter the cost.