Chapter 3 - Ravagers
5 days later
"Your arm is healing nicely,"the pink skinned nurse gently moved her newly healed arm to the side, Adrynellis looked at it for a moment as if not recognizing it without the cast," you will be able to leave with your guardians later on. How are you feeling?"
S'nara held out a chart with different pictures describing the varying levels of pain. The left side was the least, the right was the most.
She pointed to the one closest to the end, the spasms of pain in her back and shoulders had eased mainly thanks to whatever it was they had injected into the tube in her arm earlier that morning when she had awoken screaming.
"Good," the nurse said with a smile, then looked up towards the door," looks like you've got a visitor. Hello Mr- Peter."
The pale skinned man with the red jacket gave her a cheeky smile,"How's she doing?"
"Much better. We did have to give her 17cc's of epitol, which will kick in shortly, so I suggest getting her to change soon so she can be discharged."
He nodded, turning to her," Good news kiddo. I got you some clothes. They're probably on the big side, but it's only temporary."
She tried to scowl at the clothes he handed her, but only managed to do it half-heartedly.
"Those are perfectly good clothes, they were mine when I was your age."
Adrynellis rolled her eyes, taking the clothes and trudging to the bathroom, closing the door behind her daring for a moment to look in the mirror finding a much more gaunt and bruised reflection returning her half-lidded stare. Turning away she slipped the pants on, struggling for a moment with the legs as her own legs didn't seem to want to co-operate once on she realized they were a bit too short for her resting on the back of her shins.
Next was the shirt, pulling it over her head she found it hard to find the sleeves and finally found them pulling it down, the faint hint of oil and engines hit her bringing the sting of tears to eyes for a moment as the borrowed shirt dropped down and seemed to swallow her small frame, resting finally at her knees.
"Well?" his voice came from behind the door.
She opened it, finding S'nara gone and gave him a scowl, tugging at the shirt in distaste.
"Don't tug at it, that's a perfectly good shirt." he chided lightly.
She pulled at it again for good measure, looking up at him defiantly.
He just chuckled and shook his head,"Okay, okay, just don't tear any holes in it."
She stuck her tongue out at him and sat on the bed, letting her legs dangle for a moment over the edge, swinging them idly and watching with detached interest.
"Tear holes in wha?" a voice floated into the room, she let out a small gasp and pulled her legs to her chest and began to tremble, purple eyes wide in fear.
"It's okay, kiddo. That's just Kraglin, he's here to pick us up." The Terran reassured.
"You two ladies wanna hurry up? Cap'n's itching to get goin'," 'Kraglin' eyed her for a moment then stated,"Looks like nothin' but bones."
"Lot better than she was." the younger man pointed out.
The older man shrugged loosely," All I know's Cap'n's not gonna like to see his units wasted. Better hope she's worth it," she glowered at him and he chuckled," 'N fiesty too. Ya just a shuttle ride away from ya new home girly."
She gave Peter a pleading look as if to ask if she absolutely had to go.
"Sorry kiddo, we gotta go."
She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh no, don't even start -"
But it was too late as amethyst eyes locked onto his giving him what would be the Terran equivalent of a puppy dog look.
"Okay, okay, here." The Terran sighed resigned, managing to get his Walkman loose from his pocket, handing the bulk of it into her awaiting hands and putting the headphones on her head careful to avoid the healing wound. She gave him a small satisfied smile as he pushed the button and the soft music began to play.
Kraglin snickered, "Who knew that thing would be useful."
"Ready?"
She nodded her approval, small sliver fingers clutching the Walkman as if it was her lifeline as they moved through the hall.
By the time they reached the shuttle, she was fast asleep in Peter's arms.
Consciousness came back to her slowly as she found herself lying on a cot in a room much larger than the one she had in the hospital. Blinking in confusion she tried to get her bearings and found that the cot was on the far wall of dull grey room, there was a desk with a chair to her right both of which were also grey, next to that was a worn dresser - grey again- and across the room in front of her was a door, to her left was a much smaller door to what looked like a bathroom. She felt a shiver go up her spine and she began to wonder if her fate now was truly better than that of the rest of her family. Pulling her legs to her chest in a vain attempt to make herself warm and smaller she stared at the door across the way until the image of it was burned into the back of her eyes.
No one came.
Of course they wouldn't, the little voice in her head said with a vicious grin.
"No one will come for you," the voice continued tauntingly," they are all dead as you will be."
She was back at the ore mines, several miles below the moon's surface, the smell of mold and sweat filled her nostrils. Someone coughed next to her, Nesian, her cousin, he was trying not to jar his broken arm during his coughing fit but didn't succeed as it slipped from his grip and fell dangling loosely as though hanging by a single tendon. Her stomach churned with disgust as she turned away afraid to be sick, turning her eyes onto the towering Kree warrior that was eyeing them warying. A blue skinned female glanced at what remained of the survivors of the shuttle crash dark eyes cold and void of emotion. The green skinned female folded her arms across her chest and looked a bit bored, but alert while the darker skinned man who had cyborg parts coming from his head yelled orders to the faceless warriors that had marched them straight down into the depths of the mine where the air was thick with dust. They raised their weapons at her father.
The part cyborg said something in a language she didn't recognize.
Her father replied back evenly.
"Liar." the Kree warrior roared, his thunderous voice nearly shook the cavern and caused her to jump. In a few large strides he covered half the distance of the cavern to come face to face with her father who stood his ground defiantly," They are here. You will tell me where they are."
"They are a myth."
"It is no myth."
"Your people have always been so willful. Even in being told children's tales you believe every word."
The blue skinned man beckoned to the cyborg man standing near him, who handed him an over sized metallic looking hammer " I will find it and wipe your species from the galaxy starting with you."
Before she could open her mouth to shout a warning to her father, the hammer caught the back of his skull his head into two even halves. A shrill scream filled the air causing everyone to cringe for a few moments before it died on her lips. She sank to her knees reaching out to her father's now lifeless body on the floor, his dreadlocks sprawled out with a look of permanent shock on his face. Her vision blurred and warped as tears filled her eyes, she touched his face trying to get him to get up, move, talk to her anything. Unaware of the string of incoherent words spilling from her mouth.
Arms pulled her away from him and she wailed trying to go back to him.
He needed her, he could hear her, he just needed a few more moments.
"Addy." a soft voice murmured, trying to calm her as a strong arm wrapped itself around her as the words jumbled and she was bawling against the solid warm chest that belonged to the arm.
A banging noise on the walls jolted her awake, the sobs dying on her lips. Her heart was thundering in her chest, she tried to curl up, but found her hands trembling so bad that it was nearly impossible to gather her knees to her chest, so she scrunched down in the middle of the bed gathering her chest to her legs. Her stomach lurched several times darkly threatening to expel contents that weren't there.
The lurching was replaced by flip flops until it eased and it was then the tears came fast and furious, it was as though someone had turned the faucet on and left it on, as she began to start sobbing in earnest, her chest burned with trying to take in air between sobs and her shoulder and head throbbed in and out of unison.
The sobs finally died down as exhaustion finally caught up with her and she drifted.
The doors hissed open jolting her awake. Raising her head slightly she watched the man who was referred to as 'Kraglin' walk in briskly with an orange rectangular tray in his hands that held a plate and what looked like blob of grey mush.
The smell of burnt hit her nose and she turned away from the smell slightly keeping a wary gaze on him.
"Didn't know them meds would keep ya out that long. Bet ya want somethin' to eat." he said, moving quickly towards her with the tray.
She let out a small whimper, eyes widening in fright as she kicked off the blankets on the cot, trying to get away from him.
"Whoa, easy there," he stopped, changing his direction, moving towards the desk instead, putting the tray down slowly on it,"Thought Pete was pullin' my leg tellin' me ya startle easily. Got ya some food from the mess, water an' ya meds are here too."
She felt her heart thumping in her chest so loudly she thought he could hear it.
"Well, if there's nothin' else. I'll be back in the mornin'." he said and turned to leave, the doors hissing shut behind him.
She sat and stared at the tray as though it was an intruder, making her way slowly to it, she grabbed the yellow pill and the tiny white one and the glass of liquid, tossing the pills in her mouth and gulping some of the liquid down. Putting the container back and crawling back onto the bed.
Kraglin came back in the morning as promised, more than happy to get away from Yondu who was still seething from the amount of units he spend at the medical facility.
The Terran had tried to argue that they had done the right thing and should feel good for it, but an all too familiar shrill whistle sounded from the Centaurian's lips as he reminded Pete that the only thing to feel good about is getting a job done and having units at the end of it. With another whistle the yaka arrow was recalled and once again the boy's life was spared, Yondu grinned and strode towards him, putting an arm around his shoulder and lead him towards the cargo bay.
The Xandarian was more than thankful he wasn't on the receiving end of his captain's temper, knowing that he was now in charge of the girl, until Quill got back into Yondu's good graces or whenever Yondu felt like dealing with her, whichever happened first. He went dutifully to the mess to get another tray of food and to the small infirmary to get her medications.
Once the tray was loaded up with a brownish mush he headed down the hallway and tapped in the code and the doors whooshed open.
He heard a groan from underneath the blanket and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him, as he moved towards the desk and found the food on the tray still there, but the water and pills gone.
Switching out the trays as she poked her head over the blanket, her eyes still half closed from sleep, watching him cautiously.
"I ain't gonna hurt ya if that's what ya thinkin'." he said.
She gave him a dubious look.
"Ya need to eat, though." he noted lightly.
She scowled.
Her second and third full days on the ship passed in the same pattern; Kraglin would come in replace the tray that was sans medication and liquid with a new ones. He decided after removing her tray that if she wasn't going to eat mess food, a protein bar would at least sustain her until they got a chance to do a supply run. He left it on the tray as well and had a small amount of satisfaction to see the wrapper there but the bar gone.
On the fourth day, he decided to forgo his daily walk to the mess, she wasn't eating the food anyways, no need to waste more than necessary, instead he went straight to the infirmary get her meds and headed towards her room.
An all too familiar blue form leaned against the bulkhead near the door, grinning widely as though he knew something that the Xandarian man didn. Kraglin felt a lump in his throat forming and his palms begin to sweat slightly.
"I see yew've taken it 'pon yewrself to not feed her." Yondu drawled, eyes fixed squarely on his.
"I -"
"She ain't been eatin'." it was a statement not a question.
He nodded quickly, voice failing him.
"Well go on then."
Kraglin typed in the code with sweating fingers trying to collect himself before the doors slid open.
"Hey girly," he found himself saying upon entering.
Purple eyes glanced up from the half twisted strands of white hair in her face, she was sitting up legs cross in front of her, two fingers on the strand, twisting it quickly she pushed the rest of the hair out of her face.
"I figured I bring ya a protein bar, since the mess food ain't workin for ya." he pulled it out of his pocket stepping close enough to hand it to her.
Silver fingers took it and found the beginning of the wrapper, unraveling it and taking a bite, chewing slowly.
"Ya can't survive on them bars alone girly." he noted thoughtfully.
She scowled.
"Cap'n ain't happy." he stated,"And when he ain't happy," he made a slicing motion across his neck.
She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head as if not understanding the motion, finishing the bar and crumpling the wrapper up. He took it from her and offered her the pills.
She took one of each.
"Feelin' better?"
She nodded and tilted her head back far enough that he could see the beginning of a scar on her lower neck.
"Those clothes 'o Quill's make ya look even smaller."
She pulled her legs to her chest which added to the effect of making her look smaller and a lot younger than she was.
"Anyways, I'll see ya in the mornin'."
He felt her eyes on him as the doors opened and slid closed behind him, nearly jumping out of skin seeing Yondu.
"Yewr gettin' soft," the blue skinned man growled lowly and with an abrupt turn walking into the room.
She glanced up idly as the doors hissed open again and jumped at the sight of a blue skinned man in a dark coat briskly walking in. A shrill whistle caused her to cringe and she moved to place her hands over her ears, watching as a red and silver arrow slipped from the inside of the man's jacket and looped through the air lazily, while the whistling continued until the arrow was hovering mere inches from her face.
She reached out to grab the arrow, to examine it closer. A malicious grin spread on the man's face as her fingers came in contact with the glowing red arrow, a sizzle soon followed as did the smell of burnt skin. She pulled her burnt fingers back quickly, sticking them into her mouth, purple eyes shooting Yondu a look that could easily kill.
He chuckled and with another shrill whistle and the arrow returned back to the inside of the man's jacket.
" Seems to me, yew decided the mess food ain't good enough for yew," he grinned showing gold and white teeth, before the smile dropped suddenly,"Yew got two choices missy: either yew git eatin' or yew rot 'n I sell yewr pieces."
Her amethyst widened in horror.
He grinned,"Yew might not talk, 's fine by me, less blabberin' I gotta hear, but I know yew ain't dumb. Whateve' happened 'fore Quill found yew 's no concern o' mine. Next time I come'n 'ere will be to start yewr trainin' like it or not missy, yewr a Ravager now."
The next morning Kraglin came in and was quite surprised to find her sitting at the desk as if awaiting his presence.
"Well mornin' to ya too." he said trying to hide his astonishment, placing the tray in front of her and she poked the food with a fork and a took a few steady bites.
True to his word the blue skinned man showed up the next morning, not long after Kraglin had come in and she had managed to eat half of the mysterious mush.
"Alright missy, trainin' begins today." he announced
She raised a quizzical eyebrow at the Centaurian, pulling her legs up to the chest while posed on the chair. She could use some form of entertainment, the nightmares weren't subsiding much and she was beginning to get really bored.
"Fer one, yewr name's too damn long, it'll be Adra from now on, got it?"
She nodded quickly knowing that this man was not one to be trifled with, especially after the Xandarian's warning from a few days ago. She perched her chin on the top of her knees keeping a wary eye on him.
He grinned catching her look, showing a few gold and white teeth,"Yewr smart enough not to trust me. 'N yew shouldn't. That's yewr first lesson 'n that one's free. 'Fore we get to yewr actual trainin', gonna have some o' the crew meet yew 'n see what skills yew got."
Her brow crinkled slightly a look of confusion coming over her..
"Kraglin'll show yew the gym, yew ain't doin' no good jus sittin' here all day. Then he'll take yew to see Ra'mer first to check what languages yew can read 'n write, then Horuz for some weapons."
The doors hissed open revealing the spiky haired Xandarian standing there,"Alright, let's get goin' girly, Cap'n got a lot he wanna cover."
She tugged at the boot laces of her borrowed dark brown boots and stood up taking a few steps hesitantly, they were definitely too big, but would have to do given she had nothing else.
He glanced at her and noted," Looks like we'll 'ave to get ya things that fit."
She stepped out the door and stopped holding up her hand against the brilliant white light that illuminated the hallway, she began to back up into the room when a voice stopped her.
"Hang on girly," Kraglin said handing her a pair of large black goggles," read that ya can't handle the lights. Dimmed 'em in the room, but can't do that 'ere."
She immediately pulled them over her head and blinked slower trying to let her eyes adjust to the much dimmer light. They covered a good portion of her forehead and giving her eyes a subtle grey tint.
"Better?"
She nodded.
"Good. I'ma show ya the gym first, so you know that straight off. Then we'll pass by the mess. Figured ya might want to know where the food comes from, the protein bars are stored there too 'long with some dried food n'case there's no one on mess duty."
He led her down the long grey metallic halls, their boots clanking against the grated floor.
"Alright, here's the gym. Cap'n wants us all ta stay in fightin' shape. "
Doors slid open revealing a room nearly five times the size of hers with various exercise some of which she recognized from the community center on her homeplanet - she felt a pang of homesickness for a moment before mentally brushing it aside - there were a few pieces of equipment that piqued her interest, one in particular caught her attention as she saw two men floating by a glass window. She drew closer to it curious. One of the men fired a laser gun at the other, the target dodged but barely.
"That's the zero gravity fightin' room," Kraglin said behind her causing her to jump slightly, but she kept her eyes on the men in the room as they kicked off the walls and headed towards each other grappling and spinning with the force of their of trajection.
She watched for a few more moments before turning away.
"Ready?"
A nod was the reply.
Another walk down the hall and to the left this time, doors slid open to reveal a room even bigger than the gym with windows along the sides, rows of tables and chairs set up in the middle of the room and along the wall with the windows.
He chuckled at her astonishment," Never been on a real spacecraft 'fore, eh girly?"
She shook her head.
"Well, this 'ere's the mess. Nothin' much to it. Tables 'n chair's 'n all that. Food's decent, cooks vary."
She glanced around for a moment, her eyes drifting back to the windows watching the stars drift past.
"Ya good?"
A nod.
"Alright, that's the end of the fun part 'o the tour." he said approaching a cylindrical room at the end of the hall and stepping in.
She looked at him quizzically, following him. The door slid closed and they were ascending several floors up.
"We're gonna visit Ra'mer, he's our language expert. Fine tunes our translators, even teaches us anythin' vital to missions. He'll be the one to see what else ya need to learn 'n such. "
The lift stopped and opened, he strode forward a few paces, and stopped at the third grey door to the right.
They went into a small gray room where a man with a mechanical eye was looking at a tablet in front of him. He looked up and Adra couldn't help but stare at his eye, it moved just like his other one but it made a very faint whirring noise as it did.
He looked at Kraglin and then her.
"This the one?"
"Yeah."
"Adra is it?"
She nodded.
"Hmph." he said looking down at her, she glanced away quickly.
He handed her tablet," Try 'n see what you can make o' that."
She took the tablet eagerly and sat on the sofa across the room, drawing her legs to her chest and laying the tablet on top.
Silver fingers glided over the white words on the black screen, purple eyes focused on the screen in concentration, missing the glances between the two men.
First it asked her a few simple questions, what language she wanted to take the initial test in, she scrolled down and selected her native tongue, Onarian. Then it asked her to match the words with their translation in the three common languages and gave her the option to type a response in another language if she so choose.
The next part made her listen to a disembodied voice speak while she translated, she frowned at some of the Xandarian phrases understanding the gist, but having a problem translating it.
The final part was typing in the different languages, it took her a bit longer to think of the proper sentence structure in Xandarian, she always flip flopped the verbs and nouns. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as it asked her to conjugate a few of the verbs struggling through it as it was never one of her strong suits.
After what seemed like hours she looked up and was slightly startled to find Ra'mer nearly hovering over her. Handing him the tablet and pulling her legs closer, wrapping her arms around them.
He took it, scrolling through the results and looked at her curiously.
"Wha?"
"She knows Kree, quite a bit of Xandarian and of course Onarian, but apparently there's a lower dialect she added that our translators can't pick up."
Kraglin looked at her and shrugged,"Well, she's the one who would know."
"I can add it to the database." he offered
"Dunno if that will be needed. Ain't said a word since Quill found her."
He shrugged,"Well lemme know."
The Xandarian nodded and proceeded to walk out of the room, Adra followed.
He paused in the hallway for a moment
"Next we're going to weapons storage. 'fore we do, lemme warn ya bout Horuz, he's protective of the guns, so lookin' at 'em wrong may set 'im off."
Her eyes widened.
"Don' worry he won't hurt ya, just got a bit of a temper 's all."
They took the lift down several levels until it felt like that were in the very bowels of the ship.
"This is pretty far from the gym, had one too many incidents of weapons missin' 'n such and didn't 'ave room for it all. So this is the last floor 'n our last stop."
The door slid open directly to a room that had to be the entire size of the ship with metal shelving on both sides of nothing but various weapons; guns, armor, batons, knives, daggers, shields, anything and everything she could have imagined seemed to be in this one room as she found herself looking around and lost herself for a moment bumping into something round and soft.
"Sure as hell is a curious one," a voice above her grumbled amused.
Her heart leapt into her chest and she back peddled quickly, meeting the scruffy bearded older Xandarin who belonged to the belly.
"That she is."
"Ya got a name, girl?"
"Adra." Kraglin supplied, while she was trying to collect herself, eyes wandering along the shelves, frowning slightly at some of the weapons she recognized as Kree build.
"A mute?"
"Seems to be." the skinnier man replied with a slight shrug, hands following eyes as he moved towards a weapon similar to his own gun but upgraded with a new casing.
"Hmm.. well she's hope she can handle a weapon, won't be much use otherwise. 'N don't touch that."
The sound of a hand hitting skin broke her concentration for a moment before she continued to gaze upon one of the guns.
"Damnit, wasn't touchin'" came the defensive answer.
"Ya were 'bout to." came the gruff reply, then he turned to her,"which one ya wanna try?"
She looked up at him and then at the weapon before her.
"This here's a modded stun gun, nothin' too fancy 'bout it, stuns'em for 30 seconds give er take," Horuz said, pulling it from where she was looking, then showed her the dial on the side" if ye turn up the volts ye stun'em for longer. Got it?"
She nodded.
"Ready to giver 'er a whirl?"
The comm screeched overhead, causing her to jump and flinch.
"Still ain't fixed that yet?" Kraglin asked cringing.
"Nope, ain't got time been catalogin' weapons."
He sighed heavily, then caught Adra's gaze," Duty calls."
"Want me to watch 'er?"
"If ya can."
Horuz shrugged, loosely" Don' see why not."
"Alright, be back as soon's I can." he said more to himself than anyone else before getting into the lift and disappearing. With that she was left in the care of the much older and rounder Xandarian.
"Let's get to it then, Adra's it?"
She nodded.
"Think ya want to go a few rounds?"
She nodded, unable to stop herself from making grabby hands for the weapon.
He chuckled," Let's start with a big target and see how ya aim is."
After a few test fires she turned to look at him, he nodded his approval," Beginner's luck. Let's see ye hit a movin' target. Symer, com'ere."
"Wha ya want?" a dark scaled humanoid quered, poking his head from around the corner. "Com'ere."
He walked around the corner with a box full of scraps and wires in his arms.
"Hol' still," then to the girl," Go 'head girly."
She gave a slight nod and lined up the weapon for the shot.
"Yer trustin' her with that?" his tone turned defensive with a hint of anger, looking between the weapons master and her.
"Hol' still damnit," came the impatient growl.
Pulling the trigger a bolt of blue electricity shot from the weapon and hit him square on the side of his knee, crashing down on his other knee the box going down with him releasing the contents of springs, wires and other various scraps of metal. He cursed furiously in the language her translator couldn't quite catch. After a few moments he gathered himself up, glowered at her and then the man who encouraged her,"Fuck man, Yondu's gonna have a fit if them scraps are broken."
The burly Xandarian waved Symer's comment away with a chuckle, patting Adra on the back,"Hotdamnit girl, ya got a good 'nough eye. Been wanin' ta do that for long 'nough" then noticed she was picking at the metal encasement with a screwdriver she picked off the bench next to her," "What are ya doin'?"
Adra shook her head slightly, eyes never leaving the weapon continued to strip it down, examining the wires and the charger, using the screwdriver to make a slight adjustment and putting it back together.
"Told yer not to trust her." Symer grumbled, bending over to get the last few pieces of scrap that fell out of the box.
She aimed the gun at him.
"Oh no-" he started but was caught off as he was hit in the chest with a large blue electric jolt causing him to collapse and spasm on the floor for a moment before lying deathly still.
"Did ya kill 'im?" he inquired somewhat excitedly.
She shook her head and held up a finger motioning for him to wait.
Symer's chest rose sank suddenly as he took in a long raspy breath and coughed, Horuz leaned against the table amused as the fellow Ravager slowly pulled himself up, coughing.
"Guess I oughta let Kraglin know ya got weapons covered."
Kraglin couldn't help the grin after hearing the news when he came back half an hour later, walking her back to her quarters.
"Ra'mer left ya a present. Figured it would be easier if ya can type since ya don't talk."
She glided her fingers over the small silver tablet, looking at it with appreciation.
"We're gonna be makin' a pass by Exnar VI, gonna land fer a bit, refuel and restock. Figured ya might want to git out and walk 'bout."
Her skin shimmered and began to slowly turning to a light shade of blue.
"Ya feelin' alright ?" he asked looking at her with concern.
She looked away embarrassed, as her skin turned the same shade as the Yondu's and faded back to silver. Then realizing she had a tablet, turned it on and typed quickly.
Thank you.
"Ya welcome, though I doubt Symer's too happy with ya right now, but he's a jerk. How's 'bout eatin' in the mess tonight?"
She hesitated and typed.
Do I have to?
"Only if ya want to,or ya can eat here."
Here please.
"Okay."
Kraglin brought a tray of what looked like something actually edible. He recognized slices of bread, chunks of meat and what he suspected was some form of a gravy that glistened under the hallway lights.
She was sitting cross legged on the cot deeply engrossed in something on the tablet when he came in. She looked up at him and offered him a small smile as he put the tray on the desk.
"Anything else girly?"
She shook her head.
"Alright then, see ya in the mornin'"
It had nearly been nearly two weeks since she came on board. Her days were filled going to the gym, working with Horuz to repair burnt out or broken weapons and managing to stay out of the rest of the crew's way.
After one particularly grueling sparring session with Kraglin, which left her bruised and tired, she was walking back down the hallway, she paused for a moment wiping the sweat off her brow when she accidentally bumped into a crew member.
She tried to brush past them, keeping her head down to avoid the brightness of the lights and to make a quick escape back to the safety of her room. Before she could get another step further she was suddenly grabbed by her forearm and was pulled back to face the person she had bumped into.
The man was twice her height and had two sharp fangs that stuck out from underneath his top lip, he grinned ferociously showing her that the rest of his teeth were just as pointed and sharp. His dark eyes seemed to glow with resentment. She recognized him instantly as the man Horuz had her use as target practice.
"It was only a matter of time before I ran into you. Been keepin' an eye on you." her eyes went wide for a moment reflecting the fear she felt, darting back and forth as if looking for a way out, he inched closer," Horuz ain't here to save you this time."
She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but nothing came out.
"Go ahead 'n try to scream," he growled lowly getting even closer so that she had no choice but to back up to the bulkhead," No one's interested in savin' a murderer."
Her heart began to race, the tendrils of fear beginning to creep up on her and clench.
"Did you know what your species destroyed my home and harvested all the natural resources?
he asked idly as if conversing about the weather, "and you know what they did after that?"
She shook her head numbly, frozen by adrenaline and his piercing black eyes. She barely noticed that he had grabbed her arm in a steel grip.
"They took the warriors and killed them, leaving widows and children while your people experimented and tortured them. No matter how sorry you think you are, you aren't sorry enough."
He tightened his grip on her and he began to twist it slightly, she tried to roll with it- something Kraglin had taught her to do when someone grabbed her- but couldn't help the small cry of pain that escaped her lips as his fingers began to bruise her skin, his jagged claw like nails digging into her skin.
"That's right, cry because that's all I hear you do at night. Cry for those you've lost and while you're at it cry for those whose blood rests on your hands. Your murderous traitorous little wench trying to lead us into the trap of deception. But I won't fall for it and neither will the rest of us who can see who you really are."
Something crawled slowly against her skin, she dared to look and found that blood was trickling down from where his nails were, she pulled away his claws scraping skin, but he moved to twist her arm again meaning to break it. This time she successfully twisted with and kicked him as hard as she could, missing his knee but connecting with his upper thigh. He faltered for a moment and she hesitated a second too long. He rushed at her and slammed her hard against the bulkhead with a sickening thud, stars exploded in the back of her head for a moment threatening to turn into her darkness. She blinked rapidly to reorient herself as she reached for the bulkhead to pull herself up slowly.
He laughed cruelly at her efforts.
Look at the mighty Onari, unable to fight against a lesser opponent."
Symer got close to her making a grab for her wrist again, but she managed to get a hold of the slight ridge of his left cheekbone and pulled downwards causing her jagged nails to catch skin and drag across his face.
He shouted in pain and let go of her momentarily, the left hand going to his face and the right slapped her so hard she stumbled backwards for a moment, the sting of the slap still ringing in her ears. He rushed her again and used his full weight to pin her bodily to the bulkhead his right hand wrapped securely around her neck lifting her up with just his arm.
"You bitch, Ima strangle the life out of you."
She gasped, trying to fight off his arm, but he was much stronger and she felt her limbs growing heavier by the minute. Just as she was about to give into the darkness she heard a shrill whistle and the familiar glow of the Yaka arrow at her assailant's neck.
"Let 'er go, 'fore yew git a new hole to breathe from."
He hesitated the hatred glowing in his dark eyes and finally reluctantly let go, she crumpled to the floor coughing loudly.
"Now go see the medic 'fore I change my mind."
Yondu recalled his arrow and held out a hand for her. She eyed it cautiously for a moment before deciding to take his offer. Being pulled to her feet quicker than intended she stumbled forward for a moment.
"Yew need to learn to defend yewrself better. Since Symer is at the medic, I'll have Kraglin take a look a yew."
She nodded slowly and walked unsteadily to her room, glad to be able to peel off her overshirt leaving her in a tank top, revealing the jagged scars from the knife wounds on her shoulders. Adra managed to clean off her arm, seemingly satisfied with her attempt at first aid, she moved toward her desk to finish up the project she had been working on for the past few days.
She looked up when the doors slid open as Kraglin came in with a tray, he whistled lowly upon seeing the bruises on her shoulders and face, placing the food on the table near her," Yondu told me 'bout the fight. Symer won't be bothering you again." he pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket, she moved away apprehensively," Gotta check ya for a concussion's all. "
He sat down and slowly made the move to turn on the flashlight and shine it on his hand to illustrate that it wouldn't hurt her, she seemed to relax a little and let him get closer.
"Turn to face me." he instructed quietly.
She did, not without a slight wince while twisting to face him.
"Now look at the wall behind me."
She looked and he shone the flashlight in one eye then the other she grimaced and blinked furiously when he was done.
"Ya got lucky. I've seen 'im take down Krull soldiers without batting an eye," he put the flashlight back into his pocket and made a move to get up when his hand brushed against a small square object, picking it up and examining it he chuckled softly" Well ain't that something, Quill left quite the impression I see."
She watched him inspect it carefully and after a few moments handed it back to her.
" Don't worry to much 'bout Pete, he'll be back soon. Him n' Yondu argue, but he can't stay away. 'Sides he'd want to check on you, been nearly two weeks since you been here. Ya could prolly learn somethin' from 'im and keep 'im outta trouble."