In the middle of space, in a distant corner of the galaxy, the Knowhere space station was a popular, if little known, destination for bribes and dirty deals.
Entering through the massive eye entrance, the spaceship "The Benatar" and the Guardians immediately noticed that things didn't seem right.
The place was silent, the lights were off. Everything was dark.
“This looks abandoned...” Sunny said, backing off the throttle to land on a runway.
"I detect movement" Pipp said, when a soft beep from the console drew his attention "In the third quadrant".
“Yeah, I get it too” Sunny said “Let's land here”.
The Benatar landed with the grace of a trained acrobat, and the four Guardians headed out toward the dark and quiet space station.
The place was dark as they made their way through the streets, heading for the building ahead: the home of Filthy Rich, the Collector.
The doors were open and the Guardians slipped inside.
Some of the holding cells Filthy used to store her collections were damaged and they saw movement at the other end of the room.
"I don't have it..."
Using the broken rubble as cover, the Guardians moved closer to see what was going on.
“It is known in the Galaxy that you would sell your brother if he could add even the smallest trinket to your pathetic collection…”
And that's when the Guardians saw Grogar in person, lunging at a man in a business suit and stepping on him with his huge foot.
This man was Filthy Rich in person.
"I know you have the Reality Stone, Filthy" Grogar said, applying pressure to his foot "Giving it to me will save you much suffering".
"I already told you... I sold it..." Filthy said, gasping for breath "Why would I cheat on you?"
"I imagine it's like breathing for you..." Grogar said.
"It's like committing suicide..."
"I see you understand..." Grogar said "Not even you would give up something so valuable".
"I didn't know what it was".
"Then you're dumber than I thought…" Grogar said, now sounding menacing "Last chance, Collector. Where is the Stone?".
Sunny, analyzing the situation, started planning a plan to find the Reality Stone before Grogar… when Pipp's voice stopped her.
"It's him..."
Sunny looked over at Pipp, who had a determined, angry look on her face… and then she remembered.
Pipp had sworn long ago that he would kill Grogar for the murder of his parents, and that he would do it in a painful way.
“Pipp…”
"Today… he will pay… for my parents' death," Pipp declared, starting to lean closer.
Sunny saw her about to ruin her 'possible' plan and moved to intercept her.
"Pipp, wait! Not yet, not yet, not yet…” Sunny pleaded “Listen to me. He doesn't have the Stone yet. If we get it, we can stop it. First you have to get the Stone, okay?"
But Pipp scowled and shook her head, as he clenched his fists and drew his daggers.
“No… No” Pipp said “I have to do it… for my parents!”.
Before Pipp could enter the fray, Izzy's hand touched the back of Pipp's head.
"Sleep".
Izzy's empathic command instantly knocked out Pipp, who crashed to the ground with an ominous sound.
Sunny, Hitch, and Izzy quickly hid, even as Grogar looked up suspiciously at the noise. When Filthy tried to look, Grogar grabbed him and threw him into one of his own display cases, locking him inside of it.
He gave the Guardians a few precious moments to plan.
"Okay. Hitch, Izzy, you two go to the right, while I…” Sunny whispered, indicating the direction.
Looking up, however, she saw that Hitch was already on the move, and not in the way she wanted.
"The other right!" she whispered as loudly as she dared.
Screaming in rage, Hitch jumped over another display case and entered the fray, swinging his sword, but Grogar blocked it with his hand just fine, breaking the sword.
Quickly, Hitch used what was left of his sword to stab Grogar in the throat, while he used his jewel-encrusted dagger and impaled it through the heart of his father.
Blood spattered the ground as Grogar collapsed, clutching his throat.
"Why…?" Grogar asked, as he gargled his own blood as he flopped onto the metal floor of the room. "Why you, son...?"
It was over. Grogar was dead.
"That was quick..." Sunny commented, who was surprised along with Izzy and a newly awakened Pipp.
Filthy Rich, however, was quickly cheered by the turn of events, and began clapping his hands in jubilant glee, ignoring how dejected Hitch looked.
"Magnificent! Magnificent! MAGNIFICENT!"
Hitch ignored him, sighing heavily, his eyes closed as he felt a tear run down his cheek. He had wanted this, he needed this, for as long as he could remember, but having finally killed Grogar… he couldn't help but be a little sad.
Such revenge didn't feel as satisfying as he hoped it would. Instead… he felt empty.
It was over… except that it wasn't.
“Is it sadness that I perceive in you, son?”
Hitch opened his eyes scared, after hearing... the voice of his father speaking to him.
“Deep down, I knew you cared about me” the voice continued, which seemed to echo everywhere and nowhere “But you never know for sure…”
As the voice continued to reverberate throughout the place, a wave of orange fire seemed to engulf the landscape, changing ruin and rubble into chaos, fire and destruction, while Grogar's corpse vanished like ash. Knowhere was not abandoned, but destroyed. Grogar had devastated him as if he had on many worlds before. When the wave of light reached Filthy Rich, he simply disappeared… as if he had never been there.
It was all an illusion... or rather, an altered reality.
“Reality can often be disappointing…”
And then, to make matters worse, the real Grogar appeared out of nowhere, but with a slight difference: his Gauntlet now had an extra Infinity Stone.
The Reality Stone.
"I mean, it was..." Grogar said, as he looked at his Gauntlet "Now... the Reality can be whatever I want it to be".
Hitch shivered as he looked at him.
"You knew I would come..."
"I was counting on it…" Grogar nodded "We need to talk about something, little one..."
Quickly, Hitch lunged for his sword, but Grogar was on him in moments, grabbing him by the throat and rendering him harmless.
"GROGAR!"
Now wide awake, Pipp lunged forward, but Grogar barely spared her a glance. The Reality Stone lit up, and in an instant... Pipp turned into a stone statue that scattered in fragments across the floor.
Izzy gasped, and then Grogar did the same to her…turning her body into a heap of paper shreds.
Not knowing if she had any better options, including the retreat, Sunny came out of her hiding place with her blaster aimed, thinking of throwing Grogar off with a bold attack.
“Let him go, Goat Face!”
"Sunny..." Hitch said, as he looked at his beloved defying his father.
"I told you to the right" Sunny scolded.
"Now?" Hitch said, thinking the scolding wasn't necessary "Seriously?"
"Let him go!" Sunny ordered Grogar.
Grogar didn't even bother to use the Stone's power against Sunny, appearing completely unconcerned about the gun pointed at him… or the girl pointed at him.
“Ah, the girlfriend showed up...” Grogar said with disdain.
"No, I'm the goat-killing friend with benefits, just so you know" Sunny replied, annoyed "Now let him go, or I'll blow those horns off your head!"
"Sunny!" Hitch repeated, keeping his voice even, even as he trembled in the grip of his father “Not him…”
In that moment, realization settled in Sunny…with the promise she made.
“You promised it!” Hitch reminded him, his voice choked by an emotion that he rarely let anyone see "You promised it..."
"Oh, son…" Grogar predicted "You expect too much of her…"
As if to prove her point, Grogar pulled Hitch forward, right into the path of Sunny's blaster. Aware of the damage she could cause at this range, Sunny looked from Grogar to Hitch, her hands trembling as she didn't dare pull the trigger.
“He has asked you. Do it…” Grogar said to Sunny “DO IT!"
On the verge of tears, Sunny desperately tried to downplay the situation.
“I told you to the right…” she begged Hitch.
And then, thinking that it might be the end of her, Hitch could only say one thing.
"I love you... more than anything".
With those words, Sunny couldn't help but smile sadly.
"I love you too…"
At that moment, Sunny flinched, but after a tense moment, she pulled the trigger of her blaster… only to end up shooting bubbles, as her gun also evaporated into bubbles and she watched in amazement.
The Reality Stone that shimmered at Grogar's thought explained why.
“I like you…” Grogar said, smirking as he sincerely congratulated Sunny.
Seconds later, a blue portal opened with the energy from the Space Stone, and Grogar and Hitch walked through it.
Sunny jumped towards them, but she couldn't make it in time as the portal closed, leaving her alone in the flaming debris, while Pipp and Izzy recovered from the effects of the Reality Stone.
But they had all lost to Hitch as the Stone.
"No..." Sunny said, her eyes brimming with tears "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!".
This, evidently, was the worst day in the history of the Guardians of the Galaxy…