~~~Hi, people! This five-part piece was inspired by a tumblr post, which I couldn't stop thinking about since I first laid eyes upon it and eventually another fiction had to be born. I regretfully don't exactly remember who posted it, but the root of idea mainly comes from there so if you spot similarities, be gentle with me. :) I would also like to thank good LaylaBinx whose "Carry on" had offered a gentle push in creating these chapters. Her writing is so amazing and dynamic and inspiring and you should totally check her out if you haven't already.

Anyway, enough talk. Credits done, let's move on to our next adventure.~~~

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...

Come to think of it, this wasn't a bad idea after all.

Of course, it was all Peter's idea, but it wouldn't matter because Yondu would take all credit in the end, that's how it always went. However, it was a minority to complain about, considering Yondu had listened to him for the first time in his Ravager career.

It didn't matter he was nineteen already, no, he was still a "scrappy lil' skipjack" who couldn't lift a blasthammer, (So what, Kraglin couldn't lift it, either, and he never catches any flak for it.) and he was definitely more useful back when he could slip into tiny holes. An excuse that Peter knew by heart already, but it made little sense to commence anything about it, seeing as he probably had more brain than a whole lot of them. Which was, again, true.

Their operation turned out to be a little more complicated than originally calculated because Gef couldn't do math. Sure he missed the fact that a code-breaking security system at the back of the building reacted on thermal radiation, and Peter was one hundred percent sure that was an ultimate moment the Ravagers regretted not taking regular baths. Or at least week ones. Luckily it was only in for team A who dispatched first, and they high-tailed it outta there, providing a nice distraction for the guards. However, front was still tightly secured.

„Team B. Under", Yondu's hoarse voice came over the comm, his own person still safe on an M-ship including Kraglin and Peter by his side. And in their own right, Peter suspected these were gonna fail, too, because sewerage system was by far the most naive entrance ever. And Peter made it clear, but Yondu brushed him off with "shaddup, Quill, or yer dinner."

„Suit yourself, old man", Peter scratched his fresh stubble, shrugging. „Their funeral."

The holopads were on, as well as a "go-pro" projection (as Peter liked to call it) attached to one of the members showing what was currently going on in the sewers, static surrounding the screens. Yondu rolled his eyes, averting crimson eyes towards the ragged teen. If he kept growing any longer, he would surpass the Ravager captain, and the Centaurian didn't know what to think of it. For now, nothing positive. „And why, pray tell would it be?"

Peter pouted at the pads, eyes big and... was that amusement in there? ̶ the team was rounding a slippery corner, water splashing audibly through the comm, silent commands muttered among the members. Couple more feet and they would be at the lower base hangar vent. „Well, for one, if they keep going that way, they're in for a surprise because in three – two – one". Alarms yelled, and group B had barely time to react before there was a loud siren shriek and the vent door parted vertically, offering a nice group of pissed off Krylorians, taking down the two of the Ravagers Peter didn't personally know, so he didn't think any of it. The others managed to take cover, allowing Peter to finish: "there would be a guard leak high- front."

Yondu didn't seam to hear him, instead dissolving in series of cusses and cries. „Draw back. Draw back, dammit! Retreat down forth to the passage. Under the platform."

It all came to the point where both teams started playing cat and mouse with the guards, neither being able to slip in, only succeeding in pissing the facility members off. At one point they'll give zero fucks and just blow the intruders with a missile, so after some more failed entries, Yondu flipped the table. Literally.

„Fuckin' shit..." he growled, striding away from the panels and holo-crap and the damn cockpit, in his mind incubus completely missing that a certain Terran wasn't with them anymore. „I ain't leavin' that fast.

Young Kraglin, who'd hit twenty five who-the-fuck-cares when, looked over his shoulder where he'd been sitting in a co-pilot chair. „Uh... Cap, would ya mind sharin'... why exactly are ya... well, endangering the crew like this, may I be direct."

Yondu's piercing gaze and a faint glow of his fin told Kraglin he better explain himself fast.

„I-I mean, why is this mission so important that yer gonna willingly risk yer crew's own lives."

„I'll give ya a hint. It ends in about six zeros." He walked over and typed into a security keyboard, lowering a ramp. „'Cause our mutual employer wants to see whatever that precious scan ray that lays in that hangar over there is. Easy to count how bad he wants it." Yondu adjusted his coat ̶ equivalent to removing safety off the gun, but the Captain didn't need one, did he? „Now send me the rest'a the crew."

This would've left crickets ruining the silence because Kraglin awkwardly fidgeted his gaze around the cockpit. „Ummm... they're all out in th' field, Cap."

„What?" Yondu bellowed at his First Mate.

„Ya sent them all off in first two waves, Cap", Kraglin explained. . „There're no more men to send, sir."

„Then how am I supposta ̶ "

„Tsk-tsk", tutted a new voice. „Kraglin, you're a big liar, shame on you. Who taught you that? Oh, right, your life choice!"

„Shoot me", Yondu had time to grumble before turning around and observing a slightly muscular figure that started to gain a reasonable shape under a mop of messy ginger curls and crooked cheeky smile. Peter was standing at the bottom of the ramp all ready, blasters at the belt and Ravager reds on. (Another coat he'd overgrown, Yondu had unwillingly remarked in his head.)

Quill saw the look in his Captain's eyes and mockingly leaned his elbow on the other arm, propping up his chin. „Or, if you prefer to take Kraglin with you, I'll gladly stay in charge of the ship."

„Hell no, boy. I ain't leavin' ya alone on a ship ever again. Get yer feet movin'." Peter just grinned as the elder passed him, and Kraglin shook his head, mouthing at him to take care.

Not even ten steps on dusty ground and Quill already had a remark. „Umm... that isn't a way you'd want to go."

Yondu turned around to look at him provocatively. „Why?"

„I know how much you trust your arrow skills, but despite all the guards you may kill, there are automatic missile drones beyond these walls that are gonna all shoot at you at the same time if you step closer than two hundred feet."

Peter knew that look in Yondu's eyes. Quill? Yer full of shit. And he knew he was going to turn around and stagger off, doing it all his way (and then he was being stubborn!?), eventually realizing it was a bad idea, but nevertheless unleashing hell over Quill. Well, not this time.

So Peter reached for a final stray. He sighed. „Look, I know you think I'm shit, okay? I know you think I suck on missions and that I'm a plan ruining son of a bitch, and that there is no more use of me", actually Peter heard that from Horuz from behind a corner some years earlier, but didn't see the point in Yondu's reaction when it's been said to him. Horuz was limping months after, and Peter had gained a new level of veneration for a Ravager captain. The Terran waved his head off, wind carrying his soft curls. „But I really need you to trust me on this, if you want our team to get outta there, and the ray to be fetched."

Yondu's expression remained neutral. Mouth pulled in usual frown, eyes completely still. No emotional stirrings whatsoever, but Peter got it. At least he was in no threat. However the longer he stalled, the more fatal the sabotage his teammates were suffering would turn.

Eventually, Yondu's jaw worked, his eyes squinted, and he nodded off. „Lead the way, kid."

Peter grinned and playfully saluted before taking lead sharp to the right, parallel from the gates. He came to a slide behind a bigger rock, meeting Yondu's confused and agitated face. „Vents and sewerage are secured. Because they are a system", he explained, fidgeting with a crowbar he collected from somewhere around the ship as he began tapping it on the pebbly ground. „And everything under surveillance, especially in a building secured as this, will be thoroughly guarded. All side passages, even the normally low-security breaches." Then, between all those blunt thwacks, there was a distinct sound of metal that made a grin slip back on Quill's face. „But this one isn't the part of the system."

It only took several minutes for Quill to dust off the layers of dirt and loosen the elevated leverage, revealing, with a bit of Yondu's assistance, a round heavy entrance. Sand slipped tickling through into the darkness bellow. „Security might be a tough rock, but the kitchen staff was a bit naughty", Peter gripped the edges of the hole and balanced himself above the opening, dropping down when he was sure. He landed heavily on more dirt eight feet bellow. The impact was soft, so it didn't hurt much, and the teen waited for the Centuarian to drop after him. „They built this passage for ale smugglers decades ago. Couldn't go no better with this boulder up there. It prevented the entrance from being seen", he grinned at the puzzled blue face before him. „Now c'mon, this way. It's a one-way path, it leads to the kitchen cellar door."

The passage was narrow, enough for one person to squeeze at a time and Quill had to bend down to do so. The tunnel stretched on in darkness, but luckily, skilled as hell and sky-high smart, Peter remembered to bring the illuminator. It was a cute little stick-shaped thing of metal and dim glass that shone neon when turned on. It provided enough light for the pair to slowly make their way.

„How d'ya know?" Yondu asked suddenly from behind.

„How did I know what?" Peter had no room to look back, so he kept moving.

„'Bout this place. 'Bout that wall. And how da fuck d'ya know they was gonna be ambushed?"

Peter smirked, knowing Yondu couldn't see him. „Because despite your main entrance security strategies, you didn't study the side ones." Now he staggered a little to throw a short bemused look over his shoulder. „I did."

They reached the end of the tunnel several minutes down, ending with a small set of iron stairs. Luck seemed to smile down at them, because the kitchen was empty.

„What do you think of that?" Peter kept his voice quiet enough, but Yondu didn't miss the merriness in it as they climbed up. „None of the others got nearly as close to our target as we are now."

„Yeah, yeah, don't let it get to yer head", Yondu mumbled, searching around for surveillance tech. „If I was that desperate I would'a taken that dumbass Taserface with me."

„U-huh. Oh, found it!" Quill noted, standing by a door, touching his chin as he stared at the password access keyboard, a ridiculous expression of stupid confusion written on his face. „What the heck, why would they keep the kitchen secured?"

A sharp whistle, and Peter instinctively dodged out of the way. Another moment later and the keyboard was no more, sparks of remaining electricity jumping out of it. The door gaped open. The face Quill made at him then was even funnier. Yondu smirked. „Told ya I wasn't that desperate."

He would've mocked him further to keep the frown that crawled on the boy's face then, but they seriously lacked time. Now facing familiar corridors, and with Kraglin helping over the comm anew, Yondu lead the way, his arrow singing along with him, sweeping everything that moved (or shooted) out of their way. No matter how many times Peter had seen the two in action, he would never stop being fascinated by how the weapon worked. He would have to ask Yondu more about it when he was either in a good mood or drunk, provided he was really drunk. ("Boy, ya plannin' a mutiny or somethin'?")

But the way it was, Krylor wasn't a planet of dumb. No matter the waltz of the Centaurian and his Yaka, their crew still didn't manage to break through inside, and it certainly didn't help finding the needed scan ray that was so brutally confiscated. Room after room, guard, after guard, until Peter abruptly remembered something.

„Wait!" he had all but shrieked, clamping a hand over Yondu's mouth as he was about to end one of the petrified gunmen and the Yaka clattered on the floor before him. Poor pink-skinned guy was sat against the wall awaiting his end, cowardice and blunt fear clearly written all over his face. Upon realizing what he was doing, Peter abruptly removed his hand at the same time when Yondu gripped his wrist to roughly yank him off. When he looked at him, his eyes were furious.

„What the hell, boy" Peter had to take an uncertain step back. No matter how old he gets, a furious Yondu was still a scary Yondu, and the Terran had to remind himself all over again why the crew was in a constant fear from this vehement Centaurian. „Now listen up, I've been puttin' up with ya and yer shit all day, but this outdone it, Quill. Ye star playin' games with me and then yer tellin' me to stand down before this runt", he fingered the whimpering guard. Peter could hear it, because Yondu's next words have dropped frighteningly quiet. „Jus' tell me why."

The Yaka remained on the floor, so Peter felt courageous enough to speak. „Well... what if we could get him to speak?"

Yondu's eyebrow lifted.

„Y'know", the teen shrugged. „Since we have no backup or anything, I was just thinking if... y' know, we'd cease from killing him and maybe if we could make him talk, he would, maybe, take the lid off and tell us where the ray might be."

Peter knew he sounded pathetic, but that was the least of his problems. He would see Yondu through and if one living soul could once escape the tip of a notorious arrow, then Peter would see it done. This silence lasted shorter than the one before and eventually, Yondu firmly nodded.

„Ya might be onto somethin' here, Quill, I give ya that."

Peter smiled, more to himself, satisfied things were going how he meant for once.

It didn't turn out exactly as he meant, but it would suffice.

Peter never interrogated anyone before, but he suspected Yondu was doing it rarely based on what he had witnessed all these years. So when the subject of their molesting was tied down to a chair and Yondu let his arrow twirl lazily around their heads, Peter was crouched beside the poor man, trying to be as helpful as he could to both parties.

„I mean, dude, I totally dig that you don't wanna talk right now. We all have secrets, and I've kinda been in your shoes once so I know the whole picture. But see this guy here?" he pointed at Yondu. „He doesn't do mercy, no second chances with him. He's got no respect whatsoever, stars forbid the concept of privacy. He doesn't understand that word, get it?"

„Ain't got time for no privacy, boy."

„See what I mean?" Peter gestured frantically. „And do you know what he does to people who don't tell him his secrets?" The Terran leaned in closer. „He does horrible things, let me tell you. Like, boy, I'm traumatized over here, I got a lot of issues from that."

„That ya do. Lots of 'em."

„I mean, last time?" Peter looked at his competent. „Yondu, was it last time when you let that guy dangle out the airlock for a while?"

„Naw, 't was the time before that. Last time was the guy with the arrow."

„Oooooh, the arrow. The arrow you sent up his..." Peter made an acidic face.

„Yeah, that one."

„Oh, ouch, yeah, that was ugly."

„Took me hours to clean that arrow up again, lemme tell ya, son."

„I can so imagine that. Where were we? Oh, right. I think this fine gentleman was about to tell us something, right?"

It didn't take much longer. The poor Krylorian blurted up eventually, spilling all from the right room where the ray was located, to the password needed to type to break the security alarms. Peter actually felt good as they advanced down the corridor.

„Gotta tell ya, son", Yondu flashed him a crooked grin. „Sometimes ya really know how t' surprise me."

„Ummm... do you think it was that necessary to end his life? He did tell us what we needed nicely, couldn't you just have spared him for that?"

„Wha's that?"

„I mean we could've just let him go, or left him tied up with a cloth in his mouth."

Yondu fried him with dangerous look. „We are a crime syndicate, not boy scout specialists. 'Sides, ya wanna number of zeros on yer bounty to increase?"

They have boy scouts in space? With every year that passed, Peter was more and more surprised by what universe had to offer.

The rest was going smoothly until they emerged from the room with the ray. If Peter hadn't almost had his head blasted off, he would've deemed it funny. Like when you get out in the hall with a priceless weapon in your hands and a blissful moment of silence after your realize there's a bunch of armed guards standing there with pointed weapons and you're just trying to hold shit up your ass. The ducts poking outta walls were there to save them as they both ducked abruptly, and Quill's hair tips got fried off for how close it was.

„I can't see 'em", Yondu seethed, fidgeting around his comm that suffered heavy perturbation at some point, so they were cut off. „I could take chances with th' arrow, but those blasts might blow it up."

„I thought it was indestructible!" Peter said with a frown, the ray heavy in his hands. Of course, Yondu couldn't fall so low as to carry something, so he made use out of Quill. Well, he would've been useful if he had hands to reach his blasters!

Perhaps it was a blast that fired so close that'd punched him an epiphany, and for a few seconds, he could only stare.

„They're approaching", Yondu muttered after managing a look behind their shelter. „If we coulda only ̶ "

„Use this?" the teen's green eyes shone excitedly at his captain, as he lifted the ray.

But the said captain scoffed. „Kid, yer mental. We don' even know if it's useful."

„Then let's find out", and before Yondu could stop him, Quill was up, turned around on his feet, pressing a trigger. Whatever it was the Centaurian yelled next was silenced by a loud zap! screaming static and a straight purple laser beam that shone over the whole room.

And that was it.

In their common confusion, the guards stopped shooting, looking at each other while Peter could only stare. „Huh?" his face was a clear, baffled dumb. But little could he do now that a bunch of men recovered with the speed of the soldiers and pointed their weapons again. Quill gulped, sure it was the end of his miserable life.

But as the triggers clicked, they didn't fire – they exploded. All their guns just backfired themselves, blowing up like automatic missiles. Peter goggled at the sight, his ear ringing from multiple blasts, but he had barely acknowledged it. Just in couple of seconds, all the guards were laying dead, caught by miniature flames here and there.

Peter was blinking dazedly, then looked at the weapon in his hands. Then at the scene. Then back down. Then up. Down. And now a stupid grin adorned his face, as he whooped. „Awesome!" he laughed. „Yondu, did you see this? Did you see what this thing just did? It's a backfire ray or something-" he was still talking when Yondu's head cautiously peeked from behind the pipes, observing the mess.

„Can we keep this?"

„Hell, no, I ain't keepin that shit on my ship any longer than I'm paid to."

Before Peter could protest, more hurried steps echoed down the hall, and Peter pulled the ray up at the ready, but relaxed as soon as he recognized the ragged leathers and familiar voices.

„'Bout time ya showed up", Yondu told Tullk. „Ya missed the party."

Tullk frowned at him, long blaster in hand. „We were takin' down the rest 'a them. Barely got inside, we did", he looked around. „Wha' happened here?"

„Tell ya when we get back", Yondu stepped out of the shelter and Peter followed. „Get everyone to abort mission. We got what we needed and we're leavin' this fuckin' dirtball."

Tullk was one of those people who didn't need to be told twice. He yelled commands to his people and over the comm at the same time, and the Ravagers scattered around in a second. Trust the Ravagers to know two things; How to steal and how to escape their life after they do.

Yondu took the ray over from Peter. „Ya did good kid", he said. „But next time, I'm carrying the cargo if it's weaponized." At Quill's frown, he formed his own. „Whatchu lookin' at me like that for? Get goin' before I blast yer ass with this." Peter did, for once deciding to keep his mouth shut, but mainly because he just realized Yondu actually complimented him for real, and that realization almost made him stop walking.

„And remind me to fetch tailor again", Yondu grumbled, reaching out and straightening Peter's coat sleeve which rebelliously just retreated upwards again. „Ye keep growin' like that and yer gonna surpass Taserface in another year."

Peter wasn't sure if he'd stopped grinning for the rest of the day.