PAST - AT GAMORA'S HOME PLANET ZEN-WHOBERI DURING THANOS' MASSACRE
Gamora and her mother were hiding; the sounds of guns and screaming were outside.
Gamora's mother said to a Young Gamora, "Shh. We'll be safe. We'll be safe.
An explosion went off close by and Gamora screeched by reflex, revealing their hiding spot.
A Child of Thanos said something.
The door was smashed open and both Zehobereians screamed.
Outside, it was utter chaos. Leviathans, Chitauri chariots and ring-ships flew overhead; explosions and energy bolts from numerous sources criss-crossed the panicked population, felling them randomly; smoke arose from countless fires.
"Zehobereians..." Maw began.
Young Gamora, being dragged by one arm through the crowds, called, "Mother! Where's my mother?!"
"Zen-Whoberis... Choose a side, or die."
"Mother!" She punches at the arm of the one dragging her who surprisingly dropped her arm and left.
"One side is a revelation. The other, an honor known only to a few."
Young Gamora turned and found herself facing Thanos in his full Titan armor.
"What's wrong, little one?" Thanos asked.
"My mother," Young Gamora replied. "Where is my mother?"
Thanos knelt down to Gamora. "What's your name?"
"Gamora."
"You're quite the fighter, Gamora. Come. Let me help you."
Thanos offered his hand; she wrapped her little fingers around one massive finger, and he led her to a pavilion, where he crouched to her eye level again and produced a small -- for him -- red-jeweled handle. Pressing the switch, razor-sharp blades popped out both ends.
"Look," Thanos said. "Pretty, isn't it? Perfectly balanced. As all things should be. Too much to one side, or the other..." He balanced it on one finger, overbalancesdit purposefully and caught it. "Here. You try."
Thanos handed Gamora the dagger -- the handle was two child-palms' widths in length. She tried balancing it on her index finger.
"Now go in peace, and meet your maker," Maw said.
One half of the crowd was shot down. The survivors screamed in horror, and Gamora tried to turn but Thanos prevented her from seeing the massacre.
"Uh-uh... concentrate," Thanos told her and she did so. "There! You've got it."
PRESENT - GUARDIANS' SHIP
Gamora was brooding and activated the spring-action blades on the same dagger.
"Gamora," Quill called. "Do you know if these grenades are the "blow off your junk" kind or the gas kind? 'Cause I was thinking I might hang a couple on my belt right here. But I don't want to-"
"I need to ask a favor," Gamora said.
"Yeah, sure."
"One way or another, the path that we're on leads to Thanos."
"Which is what the grenades are for." Gamora silenced him with a look. "I'm sorry. What's the favor?"
"If things go wrong... If Thanos gets me... I want you to promise me... you'll kill me."
Quill paused a beat, confused. "What?"
"I know something he doesn't. If he finds out... the entire Universe could be at risk."
"What do you know?"
"If I tell you, you'd know, too."
"If it's so important, shouldn't I?"
"Only if you wanna die."
"Why does somebody always have to die in this scenario?"
"Just... trust me. And possibly, kill me."
"I mean, I'd like to. I really would..." Gamora silenced him by covering his mouth with her hand.
"Swear to me. Swear to me on your mother."
Quill paused another beat; one that rested with him significantly. "Okay."
The two kissed, until an odd crunching sound startled them. Drax was standing in the corner.
"Dude. How long have you been standing there?" Quill asked.
"An hour," Drax replied.
"An hour? Are you serious?"
"I've mastered the ability of standing so incredibly still... that I become invisible to the eye... watch."
Drax stood motionless, then very slowly raised his hand towards his mouth.
"You're eating a zarg-nut," Quill said.
"But my movement... was so slow... that it's imperceptible," Drax told him.
"Mmm, no." Quill and Gamora shook their heads.
"I'm sure I'm invisible."
"Hi, Drax," Mantis greeted.
Drax, knowing when he was beat, muttered, "Damn it."
The Benatar flew towards a massive skull and flew through one eye-hole into a vast interior cavern.
KNOWHERE
"This place looks deserted," Quill noted.
"I'm reading movement from the third quadrant," Drax said.
"Yep. I'm picking that up, too. Let's put it down right here."
The four Guardians disembarked and snuck into the Collector's collection room, which was in ruins. Thanos was threatening the Collector while the Guardians hid behind rubble.
"I don't have it," the Collector said.
"Everyone in the Galaxy knows you'd sell your own brother if you thought it would add the slightest trinket to your pathetic collection," Thanos stated.
Quill stopped, and held up a fist meaning 'halt' in the silent language of soldiers. Everybody walked quietly past him.
Thanos continued. "I know you have the Reality Stone, Tivan. Giving it to me will spare you a great deal of suffering." He placed a heavy boot on the middle of the Collector's chest and pressed.
The Collector, strained, said, "I told you. I sold it. Why would I lie?"
"I imagine it's like breathing for you."
"Like suicide."
"So you do understand. Not even you would surrender something so precious."
"I didn't know what it was."
"Then you're more of a fool than I took you for. Last chance, charlatan. Where's the Stone?"
"Today..." Drax began.
Quill, grasping the danger, called, "Drax. Drax."
"...He pays for the deaths of my wife and daughter."
"Drax, waaaaait!" Drax drew his long dagger from his leg scabbard. "Not yet, not yet, not yet." Drax gave him a look and headed towards Thanos. Quill hurried as quietly as possible to catch up. "Drax, Drax, Drax. He doesn't have the Stone yet. We get it, and then we can stop him. We have to get the Stone first. Yeah."
"No. No. For Ovette. For Camaria."
Quill began to struggle with Drax when Mantis put her hand on the back of Drax's head and said, "Sleeeep."
Drax was knocked out, his falling body causing a loud crash. Everybody ducked.
Thanos looked towards the sound, then picked up the Collector and threw him into a collecting case before walking towards the disturbance.
"Okay," Quill said. "Gamora, Mantis, you go right. I'm..." Gamora moved towards Thanos. "The other right!"
Gamora leapt on Thanos from a stack of boxes, swinging her sword at him. He snapped the sword-blade in half, and Gamora stabbed him in the throat with the stub, his lower jaw sagging and himself letting out a hoarse groan, then he was stabbed in the chest with the red-jeweled dagger.
"Why?" Thanos asked as he fell down. "Why you? Daughter..." He held his hand out to her, blood pooling out from his neck wound, before collapsing completely. Gamora broke down, sobbing.
Quill, surprised, commented, "That was quick."
The Collector started clapping and exclaimed, "Magnificent! Magnificent!!!! Magnificent!!!!!!!"
Suddenly, Thanos' disembodied voice filled the room. "Is it sadness I sense in you, daughter? In my heart, I knew you still cared."
Everything in the room was destroyed and/or on fire, the Collector waving bye-bye as he and his case vanished.
"But one ever knows for sure," Thanos said. "Reality is often disappointing."
Thanos was quite alive and undamaged as he continued. "That is, it was. Now..." He had the red Reality Stone seated in the Infinity Gauntlet. "Reality can be whatever I want."
Gamora, with her face still wet, but no longer crying, said, "You knew I'd come."
"I counted on it. There's something we need to discuss, little one."
Gamora hesitated for a beat, then reached for her broken sword. Thanos grabbed her by the back of the neck and swung her around in front of him.
"NOOOOOO!" Gamora cried.
"THANOS!!!" Drax yelled.
With a pulse of the Reality Stone, both Drax and Mantis were 'disassembled' -- Drax was turned into a stack of tumbling cubes, and Mantis became a ribbon version of herself.
Quill, moving in, his blaster pointed right at Thanos, ordered, "Let her go, Grimace!"
"Peter..." Gamora began.
Quill said to Gamora, "I told you to go right."
"Now? Really?"
"You let her go!"
"Ah, the boyfriend," Thanos noted.
"I like to think of myself more as a Titan-killing long-term booty call. Let her go."
"Peter..." Gamora called again.
"Or I'm gonna blow that nut sack of a chin right off your face!"
"Not him." Quill hesitated and didn't shoot anyone. "You promised! You promised..."
"Oh, daughter," Thanos said. "You expect too much from him." He turned to Quill. "She's asked, hasn't she? Do it."
There was a tense and unpleasant pause.
Thanos rolled his head and shoved Gamora towards Quill's gun, egging him on.
"DO IT!!" Thanos yelled.
Quill teared up as he said, "I told you to go right."
"I love you, more than anything," Gamora told him.
"I love you, too."
Quill screwed up his eyes and pulled the trigger -- but a stream of bubbles came out. Thanos was playing him.
Thanos, genuinely sincere, said, "I like you."
Thanos teleported Gamora and himself away as a stunned Quill picked up Gamora's sword, and his friends painfully re-assembled themselves, the Reality Stone's effects subsiding in its absence.