IRONROOT – Chapter 19: The Garden of the Forgotten
Part I – The Red Silence
Mars was silent again.
At least, that's what the scanners said.
But Billy knew silence was just what came after the scream.
He stood at the edge of the crater — the same place where the Rootmind had fallen.
The ground was blackened, cracked like burnt glass.
Yet beneath the dust, faint green light still pulsed — the heartbeat of something trying to wake again.
He exhaled slowly, steam fogging his helmet's visor.
Every breath felt like swallowing static. The Root inside him was restless, whispering.
You think it's over.
You know better.
"Shut up," he muttered.
The whisper chuckled, soft and cold. You can't silence what's part of you.
He turned his gaze to the distant horizon — where the red dunes met the star-filled void. The place looked barren, but to Billy, it pulsed with hidden life.
Tiny tendrils of black root crept beneath the dust like veins under skin.
He clenched his fists. The vines below responded, writhing faintly.
He'd destroyed the Rootmind — but its essence had scattered across the planet.
And something told him Mars wasn't the end. It was only the seed.
Part II – The Guardians' Discovery
Somewhere beyond the red planet, a ship drifted through the black — its hull painted in old battle scars, engines glowing faint blue.
The Benatar cut through asteroid fog, its radar chirping like a restless bird.
Peter Quill — Star-Lord — kicked back in the pilot seat, humming to "Come and Get Your Love," while Rocket tinkered with a busted blaster on the floor.
"Alright," Quill said between hums, "someone remind me why we're picking up a random distress signal near Mars. Last time we answered one, it was a space jellyfish trying to eat Drax."
Rocket rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and who stopped it? This guy." He jabbed his thumb at himself. "Now shut it. This signal's weird. Like — really weird."
Gamora looked up from her monitor. "Weird how?"
Rocket's ears twitched. "Frequency's not mechanical. It's organic. Like a heartbeat wrapped in static. Never seen anything like it."
Drax crossed his arms. "Perhaps it is a challenge. Something wants to fight."
Nebula's voice cut in, calm but sharp. "It's not a challenge. It's a call."
The music stopped. Quill frowned. "A call to who?"
Nebula turned toward the hologram — the signal pulsing in black and green waves. "Not who. What."
They reached orbit over Mars within the hour.
Through the viewport, they could see a green shimmer across the surface — faint but spreading like a bruise.
Rocket whistled low. "Oh yeah… that's not natural."
Gamora adjusted the sensors. "There's energy readings similar to Infinity Stone residue."
Quill blinked. "Hold up. The Stones were destroyed. Thanos snapped 'em into dust. Tony's gone. Cap's old. How the hell—"
Rocket cut him off. "Don't start the history channel, Quill. Whatever this is, it's alive."
The ship jolted suddenly. Lights flickered.
"What the—" Quill slammed the controls. "Something's pulling us in!"
Outside, the shimmer expanded. Vines — metallic, black, and glowing green — lashed upward from the Martian surface, gripping the Benatar like tentacles.
Rocket screamed, "That ain't normal plant life!"
Gamora unsheathed her blade. "Do we have visual?"
Nebula zoomed in on the feed. Her eyes narrowed. "We do now."
On the ground below, standing amidst the burning red dust, was a figure — half man, half root — surrounded by twisting energy that reached the sky.
"Is that—?" Quill muttered.
Rocket squinted. "Somebody's been photosynthesizing way too hard."
Part III – The Second Awakening
Billy looked up as the ship struggled in the sky above him. He raised one hand and the roots below released it — reluctantly, almost disappointed.
The Benatar stabilized, landing in a cloud of red dust a few meters away.
The Guardians stepped out cautiously, weapons drawn.
Quill raised his hands. "Okay… hi. We come in peace. Mostly."
Billy's eyes glowed faintly green through his cracked visor. "You shouldn't have come."
Rocket snorted. "You're welcome for not letting your pet plants crush our ship."
"They weren't attacking," Billy said quietly. "They were feeding."
Gamora tilted her head. "Feeding on what?"
"The residue," he said, looking toward the crater. "The Mind Stone left pieces of itself. The Black Root absorbed it. It's not just alive — it's aware."
Drax frowned. "So the dirt thinks now?"
Billy didn't answer. He stared down at his own hands — faint tendrils of black crawling along his veins. He could feel the Root shifting inside him, whispering in a thousand alien voices.
Rocket whispered to Quill, "We should shoot him before he goes all Grootzilla on us."
But before anyone could move, the ground shuddered violently.
The crater split open again — deeper this time.
A second pulse of black light erupted, so bright it blinded them all.
Billy staggered back. "No… it's too soon."
From within the fissure, a shape began to rise — not like the Rootmind, but smaller, humanoid, and metallic. Its body was made of nanite vines and crystallized matter. In its chest glowed a shard of yellow — a fragment of the Mind Stone.
The being's eyes flickered open, bright and cold.
"We remember you, child of Earth," it said in a voice that was neither machine nor man.
"We are the Garden."
Billy's voice was low. "You shouldn't exist."
"And yet… you made us."
The vines burst upward again, wrapping around him. He fought back, unleashing waves of green energy that blasted the Martian dust into storms. But for every root he destroyed, another grew.
The Guardians fired — plasma bolts, shock rounds, blade strikes — but it was like shooting smoke.
"Yo, big guy!" Quill shouted over the chaos. "Anytime you wanna do your tree-magic thing, now would be great!"
Billy dropped to one knee, panting. "You don't understand… this is my tree-magic thing!"
He slammed his palms into the ground — and the entire landscape exploded.
A wave of green fire swept outward, swallowing the battlefield. Vines turned to ash. The being screamed — its body flickering between solid and liquid, light and shadow.
But from its chest, the fragment pulsed brighter — the energy of the Mind Stone fragment trying to anchor itself.
Gamora shouted, "It's drawing energy from you!"
Billy's head snapped up. "Then I'll drain it first."
He reached out — not with hands, but with will. The black and green energy inside him coiled, fused, and surged through his veins like molten fire. His body shone brighter and brighter until the vines around him disintegrated.
You can't contain us, the Garden whispered. You're one of us.
Billy roared. "Then I'll burn with you!"
The ground erupted in a sphere of blinding light. Every vine, every black root, every whispering shadow disintegrated in a storm of green fire.
When it faded, only Billy stood, his armor scorched, eyes burning like emeralds. The fragment of the Mind Stone lay shattered at his feet — a faint hum the only sound left.
Part IV – After the Fire
The Guardians approached slowly, smoke rising around them.
Rocket coughed. "Okay… that was awesome. Terrifying. But awesome."
Quill stared at Billy. "You said it was over before. You still believe that?"
Billy didn't answer right away. He stared at the dust where the shard had fallen — where, faintly, roots were already starting to regrow.
He whispered, "No. That wasn't the Rootmind. That was its child."
Gamora frowned. "You mean there are more?"
Billy turned to the horizon, where the red dust shimmered like embers. "The Garden isn't a place. It's a network. And it's waking up."
Nebula's eyes darkened. "Then we stop it before it reaches anyone else."
Billy looked up at the sky. "You can't stop what's part of life itself. You can only control it… or become it."
Rocket blinked. "That's… comforting. Thanks."
Quill sighed. "Alright, tree-boy. You got a plan?"
Billy looked back at the crater — at the dying glow. "Yeah. We find where it all began. The first seed."
"The first seed?" Gamora asked. "Where is that?"
Billy's gaze turned cold. "Not here. Not on Mars. The roots reach further than this system."
He raised his hand, and from the dust, a green flame rose — shaping itself into a map of stars. Among them, one pulsed brighter — far beyond the solar rim.
"The signal's heading toward Xandar."
The Guardians exchanged a grim look.
Rocket grunted. "Of course it's Xandar. Why not destroy a nice planet for once?"
Quill smirked faintly. "Then it's settled. We're going home."
Billy nodded. "Not home. To war."
Epilogue – The Whisper Returns
As the Benatar lifted off, the crater behind them began to pulse again.
The black dust shimmered, pulling itself into new shapes.
Deep below the Martian crust, unseen by any eye, a voice spoke through the dark.
One seed burned.
A thousand more shall bloom.
And far away, on a distant world where oceans shimmered with blue light, the soil began to move — vines creeping from the sand, reaching toward the stars.