The Attack on Rocket was an assault on Knowhere, carried out by Adam Warlock on the orders of Ayesha and High Evolutionary, with the objective to capture Rocket.
Background[]
- "That, my child, is the next step in our evolution. More powerful. More beautiful. More capable of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy. I think I shall call him... Adam."
- ―Ayesha to her Sovereign Chambermaid[src]
Ayesha created a Sovereign more powerful than most, capable of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy.[3] When High Evolutionary learned that his past rouge experiment, 89P13 was part of the Guardians, he rushed the being's creation to only apprehend the Raccoon. This new breed, dubbed Adam Warlock, was sent to Knowhere to bring the experiment back.[1]
Attack[]
- "Pick on someone your own size."
- ―Drax the Destroyer to Adam Warlock[src]
Adam Warlock was sent to fly to Knowhere, immediately crashing into Rocket's apartment and slamming him onto an outside roof. However, Rocket used his Gravity Boots to pull himself out of Warlock's grip and ran, after waking up Peter Quill. Meanwhile, Nebula grabbed and used a jetpack along with her upgraded arm to threaten Warlock to stand down. Warlock clashed with Nebula and forced her to the middle of Exitar. He punched Nebula repeatedly, heavily damaging her and tossing her away as her cybernetics began to fix themselves.
Groot trying to stop Adam Warlock
Wanting to protect his friends, Groot leaped onto Adam, quickly bounding him with his limbs covering Adam. However, Adam used his flight to fly him and Groot across the inside of Knowhere, causing chuncks of Groot to be teared off of him, with Adam landing back to Exitar dropping the still alive head of Groot, who grew spider-like limbs to crawl away.
Rocket aims at Adam Warlock
Rocket made his way to Mantis, frantically telling her what had happened. Kraglin Obfonteri, who was cowering behind a structure, tried to use his Yaka Arrow and its controller to attack Warlock, but it only grazed Warlock's cheek. Warlock located Rocket, immediately breaking Mantis' arm and trying to blast Rocket, severely wounding him. Quill located his friends and began to hit Warlock with a barrage of blasts from his Quad Blasters.
Adam Warlock is defeated by Nebula
Warlock was confronted by Drax the Destroyer, who began to wrestle with Warlock in Exitar as Warlock desperately tried to blast him, causing the destruction of the Guardians' new sign and Warlock's cape. Eventually, Warlock was able to blast Drax and began to wail on him with his strength. However, before Warlock could kill Drax, Nebula used her arm to create a sword which she used to stab Adam, which he commented had hurt.[1]
Aftermath[]
Peter Quill and Mantis trying to revive Rocket
Peter Quill ran to Mantis and Rocket, allowing him to see Rocket's wound cause him to convulse violently on the floor. Quill ran in a hurry to grab two Med-Paks, one of which Mantis used to repair her arm. Quill attempted to use the other on Rocket, whose bionic implants began to react harshly to the Pack, causing him to scream out in pain. Quill had to remove the Pack as Rocket went into a coma, still heavily wounded. Worried for Rocket, the Guardians rushed to the Bowie to use its med bay to see what had happened.
During the commotion, Kraglin Obfonteri looked out from his hiding space, allowing him to see that Adam Warlock had survived the wound and flown away, to Obfonteri's annoyance.
In order to save Rocket's life, the Guardians embarked on the Bowie towards the Orgoscope, attempting to infiltrate it in search of information to switch off Rocket's kill switch.[1]