"My Walkman! They took my Walkman!"

Rocket spun around to see Peter staring desperately at the ship as it hovered above him, its engines powering up for the moment it was ready to take off. The ship was just out of reach for the Terran, making it impossible for Peter to save his precious music device.

Rocket had never seen the man look so utterly lost before. He knew the small device meant a lot to Peter, but he had yet to understand just how much. He knew the thing was just as old as the man and that he had had it with him since he left his home planet.

And now, Peter looked like someone had ripped his heart out and then proceed to stomp on it.

Rocket looked towards the ship and was able to calculate that it would be seven point three minutes before the ship would have gained enough power to take off. When that happened, the ship would take off with warp speed and they would be unable to track it.

The raccoon figured he could just ignore the whole thing and let it be a lesson for Peter for losing the stupid thing in the first place. He could just go back to doing what they came to do and act like he had never heard the man.

But Peter's broken expression tore at his heart, making it impossible for him to ignore the whole thing.

Cursing loudly to himself, Rocket threw his gun to the ground as he knew it would be too heavy for him to carry for what he was about to do. He then proceeded to run towards Peter and as he reached the man, he grabbed hold of Peter's clothes and climbed.

Peter had no time to react as Rocket perched himself on the man's head and pushed with his legs, throwing himself into the air. He stretched his whole body out and just as he began falling, his hands managed to grab hold of the ship's left wing. He unsheathed his claws, scraping the ship's paint job. He pulled himself up, remaining on all four for better balance.

Peter shouted after him to come back, but Rocket ignored the man. He ran up to the ship's side and climbed into one of the air vents, disappearing from sight. He quickly ran through the tunnel of metal, relieved about being an animal for once. It was pitch black, but he was still able to navigate through the labyrinth.

Six minutes.

Rocket took left as he heard voices coming from that direction. He came up to an open vent and took a look around, remaining in the shadows to keep himself from being discovered. Three males, having a resemblance to Krees, were in the room, all of them armed to Rocket's irritation.

The three males were talking loudly to each other, one of them waving Peter's Walkman around as if it was some kind of price.

Five minutes.

Rocket's eyes narrowed as the male holding the Walkman placed the device down on a small table, just beside the controls. All three of them then turned to some panels on the wall, their backs now turned towards the rest of the room. They continued to talk loudly, neither having noticed the raccoon yet.

Four minutes.

Rocket knew he could easily sneak behind the three goons, grab the Walkman and be out before they even realized what had happened. But he also knew that once they did realize that their prize was gone, they would come back and he didn't really feel like going through all this again.

Letting his eyes scan the controls an idea came to mind and a smirk made its way to his lips. Making sure the goons were still preoccupied, he jumped down from the vent, landing almost soundlessly.

He quickly made his way over to the controls and pressed in a new command, glancing over his shoulder. Once the new coordinates were set, he made sure they couldn't be changed by hacking the ship's main computer. Whatever the three males tried, they would never be able to change the route.

Three minutes.

Making sure everything was set, Rocket hurried over to the small table where the Walkman was placed. He jumped onto the surface of the table and reached out for the small device.

"Hey, that rat is stealing our prize!"

Rocket spun around, his eyes wide as he saw that the three males had now turned around. All of them were glaring towards him and as they reached for their weapons, Rocket threw his body into action.

He spun around, went down on all fours, grabbed the Walkman with his teeth and bolted for his only escape.

Two minutes.

He ran between the males' legs and threw himself at the wall, scrambling up it and into the safety of the air vent. He ran down the steel corridor, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. As he reached the opening he threw himself onto the ship's wing, but as he landed he lost his balance.

He slid on his stomach towards the edge, causing him to dig his claws into the metal below him. As he reached the edge he only just managed to stop, quickly scrambling back to avoid falling.

One minute.

Rocket took a deep breath to calm himself and looked around. To his horror he saw that the ship had risen even higher than it had before. He was too high up to be able to simply jump off the wing.

If he did, he would die.

Fifty seconds.

As he tried to figure out a way down, he failed to notice the window to the right behind him opening. A shot filled the air and Rocket cried out as pain exploded across his back, the bullet tearing through skin and flesh. The Walkman fell from his mouth as he screamed, the small device bouncing closer to the ship's side.

Forty seconds.

Rocket fell down, half of his upper body hanging over the edge of the wing. Tears stung his eyes as he tried to draw a steady breath through the pain. His whole body was shaking from the sudden pain, it felt like he had been ripped apart.

He managed to lift his head and then noticed the open window, one of the males smirking coldly as he reloaded the gun. Rocket tried to push himself up but fell back down, his ears folding back as he heard the faint click, signaling that the male had finished reloading.

Thirty seconds.

Before the male could fire another shot however, an bullet of electricity impacted with his chest, sending him falling back into the ship while screaming in pain. A second passed, but none of the other males came to the window to finish what the first one had started.

Rocket lifted his head as he heard the engines of Milano, seeing that the trusted ship was hovering a several feet away from the wing. The back doors then opened and to his relief, Rocket saw Peter, Groot and Drax standing on the now opened ramp.

Twenty seconds.

Groot grew vines from his arms and wrapped them around Peter's torso, much like a harness. Peter then proceeded by walking further out on the ramp until he was almost at the edge. The Milano was moved closer to the other ship, but it was still a small distance between the two. Peter held out his arms towards Rocket.

"Come one, buddy! You have to jump!"

Ten seconds.

Rocket pushed himself to all fours, wincing as the movement caused the pain to flare up. He stumbled forward as the sound of the ship's engines grew louder, indicating that they were about to take off. But it was then Rocket remembered.

He closed his eyes and turned around, nearly crying out. He then ran towards the side of the ship, towards the Walkman. He was not going to leave without it, not when he had finally gotten it back.

"No Rocket!" Peter's voice was full of panic. "Leave it! There's no time!"

But Rocket ignored the words and as he reached the small device he picked it up with his teeth, turning around once he had it.

Five seconds.

Rocket ran towards the edge, but stumble as the ship below him began shaking. He fell, but managed to keep hold of the Walkman.

Four seconds.

He looked up, meeting the terrified eyes of his friends with his own. He pushed himself back up and ran, but the shaking slowed him down.

Three seconds.

Peter leaned out into the air, the only thing keeping him from falling was the vines around his chest and Groot's strength. He reached out, trying to make the gap Rocket would have to jump smaller.

Two seconds.

Rocket ran as quickly as his injured body could and as he neared the edge, he pushed away from the metal surface below him and threw himself into the air.

One second.