Disclaimer: I do not own Guardians of the Galaxy.
Hey! Do you want to know what the hunt is for? Yeah, right. I'm not gonna tell ya. Keep reading. Oh, and please please please reveiw.
Chapter Two
"What planet next?" Rocket asked, some time later. Each of the missing pieces were held on different planets. The sphere was only the beginning, and Peter need need needed all of the parts.
"I do believe we are going to...bleep, it as such a complicated name. I can never remember it. The awful one. The one we looked at on the screen with the guy that had the long scar down his face. You know, just before we shot him," Peter explained, like Rocket would to a child. Comprehension dawned in Rocket's eyes.
"You mean the one that conveniently has maximum security right where we need to go?" Rocket asked, the realization rearing it's ugly head.
"Yep, that's the one," Peter replied, using the bar above his head to swing himself into the pilot's seat of his ship.
"Oh, yeah," Rocket said, grinning impishly. "Just don't leave me behind this time," He amended. Rocket reached in the back and swung a huge blaster on to his lap.
"I'm ready, baby. Once this thing gets fired up, there's nobody who can stand in our way." Rocket said, clearly relishing firing that monster of a thing.
"Umm, Rocket, hate to break it to ya, but his is a stealth mission," Peter said. Rocket looked crestfallen.
"Eh, bring it anyway," Peter said, taking pity on the small creature who just wanted to use his super-sized blaster. Rocket whooped and punched one fist in the air. Peter steered around a big hunk of space rock. He heard something shift in the back. He really hoped it wasn't one of Rocket's home-made bombs.
"Rocket? Have you recently built one of those bombs with materials you tear from my ship?" Peter asked.
"Yes, why?" Rocket said casually.
"Because something shifted back there, and now I hear a definite ticking sound," Peter said, just a little nervous. Even the infamous Star-Lord gets a little nervous when he's about to be blown up in the middle of space-nowhere.
"Bleep. That can't be good," Rocket said, scrambling out of his seat to see if he could manage to detonate it. Otherwise, it would mean instant death. Rocket didn't really care, but he didn't want to kill baby Groot. Peter heard rustling and the ticking sped up a little.
"Rocket, hurry up!" Peter shouted in the general direction of the ticking.
"I'm trying!" Rocket yelled, trying to sound annoyed. Peter detected a definite note of fear in Rocket's voice.
"I can't! I built this thing too good!" Rocket shouted, dropping all pretense of annyment. "We're all going to die! We're going to explode and our corpses are going to float in space and we're all going to be gutted and it's all my fault that Groot will die again and-" He cut off in a hysterical, mad laugh. Peter sighed. Just like Rocket to laugh instead of cry out.
"Not if I can help it," Peter grunted. He jumped out of his seat and ran back to where Rocket had abandoned trying to defuse the bomb and was trying to shield Groot with his body. Not that it would do any good if the bomb went off. Peter put the bomb on a sturdy part of the floor. He stomped on it again and again until it was silent. The bomb had no timer, but Peter was pretty sure that it had been close to going off.
"Oh. I hadn't thought of that," Rocket said, staring at his destroyed bomb and trying to pretend he hadn't just been hysterical.
"I am Groot," Groot said.
"I know, buddy. I know," Rocket replied.
"Let me guess, he said thank you to me for not spontaneous combusting us all," Peter said. He had resigned himself to guessing what Groot said.
"Ah, no. He said, 'That was one of your best bombs, too. I wish Peter had found another way to destroy it'," Rocket said matter-of-factly.
"Oh, you're welcome from saving us all. And you got all that from a single 'I am Groot'?" Peter asked.
"Yep." Rocket replied.
"Hmm. Well, let refrain from making bombs from pieces of my ship." Peter said.
"For the time being." Rocket agreed, and went to do heaven knows what. Peter hopped back into his seat and put on his headset. Music drifted into his ears and he sunk into his chair.
Oh baby there ain't no mountain high enough,
Ain't no valley low enough,
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you babe
Peter felt a solemn mood come over him. I will find you, he promised. He needed to. And he had to complete the sphere to get the map. A sudden beeping bursted through his music and interrupted him from his thoughts. He sat up and took his headphones off. They were getting close to the planet. They were about to hit the planet's atmosphere. Peter would need the power steering for this one. Part of the reason this plant was so nasty was because there were space rocks floating on the atmosphere that could easily bring down the ship. Rocket came from behind Peter and scrambled into his seat.
"What were you doing this time?" Peter asked, straining to steer the ship.
"Building another bomb," Rocket replied matter-of-factly.
"WHAT?! I thought we agreed NO MORE BOMBS, seeing as the last one almost BLEW US UP!" Peter shouted.
"Jeez. Relax. This one is detonable," Rocket replied cooly.
"It better be. Plus, we agreed no more bombs for the time being," Peter re-stated, since Rocket seemed to have either completely missed or avoided the point the first time.
"Yeah. Exactly. For the time being. For, like, a minute," Rocket said. Peter sighed and banged his head against the wheel. Truth was, the furry raccoon exasperated him, but Peter needed him for the mission. Plus, he sorta like the little dude. The ship tossed and turned and everything was shaken up for the second time that day. They spun upside down and Peter narrowed his eyes in concentration, turning sideways to slip between two rocks. He looked next to him to see how Rocket was doing. Rocket's cheeks puffed and he looked like he was about to puke all over the floor.
"Please don't do that again," Rocket said faintly.
"I am Groot," Groot agreed. Peter nodded, too focused to reply. Finally, they broke from the planet's atmosphere.
Peter flew close to the surface of the planet, looking for a place to land. He finally found a clearing that was well-concealed and close to their target. Peter brought the ship down and landed it nicely. He was quite an expert, if he did say so himself. Rocket unstrapped himself and hopped out of his seat. He grabbed his blaster and headed towards the doors.
They snuck through the forest. When they looked through the trees, they spied a facility that was twenty feet high and topped with barbed wire. Maximum security. The only way in was through the front or back entrance. No going over. They were going through the back entrance. this was a stealth mission, so they were going to bribe the guards in back. Improvisation from there.
Peter and Rocket crept around the facility, Rocket trying not to drag the huge gun. They reached the back of the facility and found it was between shifts, so there was only one guard. Peter supposed they had better plan better in the future, because the fact that this surprised him was not good. He needed to be on his game if he was going to do this. They waited until the guard had turned his back, then crept up behind him. Peter clamped his hand over the guards mouth to keep him from screaming.
"I am going to take my hand away from your mouth nice and slowly. If you even start to raise the alarm, we will not hesitate to shoot you," he whispered in the guards ear. The guard nodded, fast and panicky. Peter stood where the man could see him and pulled out a hunk of gold and a couple precious gems. He had stolen them from some rich guy on the planet before last.
"How about I give you this, and you let us in, then stay quiet and forget this ever happened," Peter said, keeping his voice down. Rocket stood off to the side. If he tried to do this, the guard would be shot, one way or another with that big gun. The guard shook his head.
"I know what you're looking for," the guard said.
"And what would that be?" Peter asked, feigning innocence.
"Don't play me, boy."
"I really don't know what you're talking about." Peter said, looking around. this was taking longer than it should.
"Gamora," the man said. "You're looking for Gamora."