Author's Notes: So, I finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy and fell in love with it. However, much to my surprise, when the plot bunnies attacked (as they will do), they didn't attack where I expected. Rather, I found myself sympathizing rather unexpectedly with Nebula. She tells Gamora during one of their confrontations that she hated her the least out of their siblings, but what it seemed to me that she was saying was, 'why didn't you take me with you? Why did you leave me with him?' While the sisters were adults, it almost seemed like Nebula was a child begging to know why her sister left her with an abusive parent. Nebula made her own choices, but I still felt for her … and wondered if a chance came to truly break free once more, if she'd have the strength to take that chance. Thus was born 'Lost Little Girls,' to fit into the 'Birthright' series and introduce Nebula to another lost little girl, who should have run out of chances, but finally managed to get it right: Suzie Costello. Besides. Karen Gillan was nothing short of awesome in the role (and yes, I'm aware that's not how Nebula is in the comics. That's why I listed this as movie-verse).
Disclaimer: Captain Jack Harkness, Suzie Costello, Rex Matheson, et al, do not belong to me … they belong to the BBC and Starz. Nebula also doesn't belong to me … she is the property of Marvel Comics and Studios (and you should have seen the look she gave me at anyone owning her). Anything you don't recognize probably belongs to me.
Unknown Sector
Spring 2014
She came through the wormhole that opened up as she fled the battle and her sister. The stolen craft bounced and bounced again, before breaking apart upon impact. She didn't break, though … she never broke, not completely. Instead, her enhancements moved everything back into position, even as she crawled out of the shattered craft with one hand. The first things she saw were two men … they looked a bit like the humans of the Nova Corps, including that fool her sister allied herself with. One had light skin and the other dark skin, and when the dark-skinned man reached out to help her, she swatted him away. They were the first things she saw when she emerged from the wreckage of her ship … they were also the last things she saw before the world turned black, as the fair-skinned man raised a weapon that sent her spinning into oblivion.
She awoke on a transport, with her enhancements either turned down or completely disabled. The fair-skinned one said conversationally, eyes never leaving something in his hands, "Haven't seen those in a while. I would apologize for knocking you unconscious and rendering you helpless, but you nearly killed Rex. On the other hand, at least I didn't turn you over to Rex's wife. Octavia tends to be … rather protective of those she loves." Nebula sneered at him, and the man added, "No, I'm serious. The last person who messed with someone dear to Octavia will live for a good five hundred years with someone else in her mind and her body. One of the worst prisons you can imagine … not being in control of your own body."
She wondered if she was supposed to have any pity for this person he described, after what her adoptive 'father' did to her. She had control over her body, yes, but her body was no longer her own. The fair-skinned man finally looked up at her, his blue eyes bright and sharp, and said, "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, by the way. Welcome to Earth." She outright scoffed at that and the man continued with a small shrug, returning his attention to whatever was in his hand, "I'm taking you to a refuge … sort of a halfway house for people who come through the Rift. What happens after that is up to you."
Somehow, that was the most frightening thing she'd ever heard. The Rift was evidently the Terran name for the wormhole she came through, which meant that the Terrans were not as innocent of the world outside the galaxy as her 'father' supposed. True enough, they handed his Chitauri a rather nasty defeat, but Nebula was inclined to think that was because Loki was incompetent. Perhaps she was wrong about that … especially given Ronan's defeat at the hands of people who should have been annihilated by him. Captain Jack Harkness looked at her again with those frightening blue eyes and said softly, "I know what I say frightens you. It doesn't have to. You can look upon this situation as a prison … or as a fresh start."
Like she said. That was probably the most frightening thing she ever heard. Nebula was abandoned by hope when she was still a child. She only knew power and hatred now. And it seemed as if she said that aloud, because the captain looked at her with sadness or sorrow or pity (she could no longer tell) and said, "That's a shame. Thanos already has a lot to answer for, but for taking a child and burning all of the love out of her, all of the compassion out of her, leaving only hatred and a desire for power? That's a crime itself. I should know. I've committed such crimes myself."
It was only curiosity which led her to ask (because she didn't really care … why should she?), "How do you live with yourself?" He looked up at her, looked away from whatever he was holding, a sad smile on his face. That smile was an answer of its own, and Nebula looked away. She didn't want to know, all of a sudden. She didn't care, it had nothing to do with her, and whoever this man was, whatever he'd done, he was nothing like Thanos. He wasn't as strong as Thanos … he regretted whatever he'd done. Regret was a weakness.
"I can't stay dead, Nebula, daughter of Thanos. Oh, I know who you are. I know who you are, and I know that Thanos took you from your parents to turn you into a living weapon, just as he did all of his children. I knew your sister Gamora's parents, before Thanos wiped out them out in front of her. So strange, when I think about it … both of you saw your parents murdered in front of you, both of you were 'adopted' by Thanos and turned into something you were never meant to be. But while Gamora used Thanos' own weapons against him … you didn't. So what's different?" Harkness mused.
However, he lost her full attention the moment he said, 'I can't stay dead.' He couldn't stay dead. Not, he couldn't die, but he couldn't stay dead. Nebula thought about what Thanos would do to someone who couldn't stay dead, and shuddered. She murmured, "I was wrong a moment ago. I thought what comes next was the most frightening thing I'd ever heard. I was wrong. 'I can't stay dead' is the most frightening thing I can imagine." She looked away again, because she didn't want what was fluttering in her chest.
"I've learned to live with it. I didn't have much of a choice. Either I learned to live with it, or I became something worse than Thanos," Harkness answered softly and Nebula's head snapped up at that. He offered her a gentle smile, adding, "I was heading in that direction once. I'd lost two years of my memory and couldn't get a clear answer why. So, I decided to behave like a spoiled child, threw a fit and nearly ended life on a planet that never did anything to me. It turned out that my father had those memories removed, not to punish me but to protect me."
That was something else that Nebula couldn't comprehend. What had he done that his father felt it necessary to take his memories? Or … and Nebula had only to think of her own childhood, hers and Gamora's … or did his father take his memories because something was done to him? There were so many things Nebula wished she could forget. And whatever she might have said to that effect vanished as the transport settled suddenly. The door opened and a tall, dark-haired man looked inside, saying, "So this is the newbie who smacked Matheson across the prairie?"
"This is her. Her enhancements have been disabled, Liam. I can't say that her weapons have been disabled, because she is a weapon," Harkness answered. The man named 'Liam' gave her a once-over, and Nebula kept her chin held up high. She was not ashamed! Harkness added a bit ruefully, "She's a handful, Liam, fair warning. Probably best to keep the children away from her." Liam's eyes sharpened as a big man appeared beside him. The newcomer nodded to Harkness respectfully, before he and Liam lifted Nebula out of the transport. Harkness sat back, saying, "Good luck, Nebula. I hope you find a place of your own."
And then the door closed, sealing off anything she might have said to Harkness in response. Bastard. He probably did that deliberately. The man who arrived after Liam said, "Please tell me that your sister won't be the one taking care of her?" Sister? Nebula stiffened, because the last thing she needed was a reminder of Gamora (who, even after everything, tried to save Nebula … didn't understand that Nebula didn't need to be saved). Liam snorted, which didn't do anything to ease Nebula.
"Are you nuts? Put the woman who knocked Rex Matheson a hundred yards because he tried to help her up, with my sister, the Grand Duchess of Spite? Have you lost your ever-loving mind? Artie, I really don't know about you sometimes. Not that the alternative is that great, since Eleanor is out of town at the moment … my sister is spiteful and Suzie is … well, Suzie," was Liam's pathetic response. Nebula would have protested, but right now, she didn't have the firepower to back it up. She would have to wait.
"I know Suzie was a bit not good when she died the first and second times, from what she and the other two have told us, but she's been great since she came here. I think it may be Miss Natalie's influence," the man called Artie observed. Nebula kept silent, drawing as much information from the discussion as she could. Knowledge was yet another kind of power, as she well knew, and it was the kind of power she needed right now. Artie added after a moment, "So, what was Miss Natalie's wedding like, anyhow?"
"Good. She looked absolutely radiant. The last time I saw her glowing like that, she was blushing because she walked in on me and Jack. Funny thing is, she looked even more radiant after she got the shovel talk from one of her new husband's friends. Natalie's the only woman I've ever known who looked happy after she got a shovel talk. Strangest girl I've ever met," Liam replied as Nebula was bundled into a ground transport.
Archie snorted as he took a seat beside Nebula, but he waited until Liam was in the transport with them before responding, "Yeah, well, your grandfather had a reason for leaving this place to her, and I imagine that was one of them. Knowing Miss Natalie, she probably muttered something along the lines of, 'well, everyone was giving him the shovel talk about hurting me, it's only right.'" Liam's roar of laughter indicated this was, indeed, the case and Nebula rolled her eyes. She was not even remotely interested in any of this.
And so, through the drive, she pointedly didn't listen to the conversation between the two men, about their Miss Natalie and her new husband, about the one blemish on the wedding (a few someones who weren't invited showed up), or about anything else they talked about. And in truth, the ride took no more than twenty minutes (but that was still twenty minutes too long). At last, they were pulling up in front of a house … nowhere near as fine as some of the residences Nebula had seen during her missions … and a woman slowly descended the steps. The ground transport came to a stop, and that same woman opened the door, peering inside. She offered Nebula a small smile, observing, "Thank you, gentlemen … you'll have to tell me all about your meeting with Jack later. And you … you must be Nebula. I'm Suzie. I have a feeling we're going to be very good friends." Nebula merely glowered at her, mind already focused on the best way to kill her.
Unfortunately, she'd missed a very important part of the conversation between Liam and Artie … the part where it was mentioned that Suzie died twice already. Such a woman would not be so easily to kill a third time.