The Nova Corps were known for their efficiency in their justice department. Even most of the prisoners could agree that, as far as getting arrested and placed in jail for their crimes goes, the Nova Corps were the best. They were swift and, more importantly, they were fair. Those two combinations made Galaxy frown. Those were two promises that no one could live up to fully. She was getting thrown in jail, not for pointing a gun at someone, but for her connection to Ronan. Their only evidence, which they had shown in some sort of pre-trial to agree that she actually belonged in prison, was pictures of her and Ronan or of her and Gamora or of her and Nebula or even a small photo of her and Thanos - when they had shown the last one to the court everyone had gasped and a few started to cry. Her actual trial would take place a few weeks from now and would reveal how long she would stay in prison.
They had been swiftly placed in a line of processed criminals who had to be presented. For a world that claimed to be peaceful, Xandar had quite a few criminals, which allowed Galaxy to blend into the crowd. Their group of herself, Gamora, Peter, the raccoon, and the raccoon's tree creature was to be processed at the end, and Galaxy had no intentions of allowing Peter to see her until she could think of something other than, "I'm sorry for trying to stun you" or "When we get out, I'm going to call my new boyfriend to grab us and you need to come with us."
By the time the time the last person, Galaxy, had gone through the line, Galaxy had a crick in her neck and her feet were sore. Unlike the others, who had least gotten to sit down, Galaxy had no rest before she was shoved onto a transport ship along with everyone else. The ship, of course, was headed to the Kyln, the high security prison of the Nova Corps.
She nearly cursed when she saw that even on the ship there weren't any seats, just walls that allowed minimal relief for aching feet. Crossing her arms, she leaned against of one walls and ran her fingers over the smooth glass face of the communicator over and over again. She could feel her stress draining from her via the repetitive action and the continuous knowledge Ronan was just a few taps away. She could have contacted him before, the idea of him showing up to a Nova Corps official trial to get her and Gamora was humorous, but she wanted to wait a bit and give herself time to sort out what to do with her brother.
With as rotten as the situation was, the only thing Galaxy could think of was being grateful for was the mass of people that hid her from Peter. Her darker hair and sharper face, two large changes from when she was a child, allowed her to blend in with the men and women around her. Even if Peter did get a direct look at her, he probably wouldn't recognize her as anyone other than the person who had tried to shoot him.
The transport ship stopped with a jerk, sending several prisoners to the ground with strings of curses and groans. The guards paid them no mind, instead choosing to warn the ship that the last one out would face punishment. There was an unfriendly smirk on the guards faces as the fallen prisoners were nearly trampled on as they too tried to scramble to their feet to leave, only to be pushed down by the people streaming out around them.
They were forced into a line and ordered to head down a hallway to where they would receive their standard yellow uniform. The raccoon that had tried to kidnap Galaxy, Peter, and Gamora loudly told the tree-creature that followed him constantly that the best way to tell who people were in the prison was by looking at their pants, which had a sort of bar-code on them that designated their crimes. Galaxy couldn't help but glance at her brother from behind; she had been ten when she last saw her brother and hadn't thought about him leading a life of crime, but she supposed a life with the Ravagers would only lead to crime eventually. But what crimes had he done?
"I guess most of Nova Corps wanna uphold the laws, but these ones here, they're corrupt and cruel. But, hey, that's not my problem. I ain't gonna be here long. I've escaped twenty-two prisons, this one's no different. You're lucky the broads showed up, because otherwise, me and Groot would be collecting that bounty right now, and you'd be getting drawn and quartered by Yondu and those Ravagers," the raccoon informed Peter.
Galaxy watched as Peter stiffened slightly, "Broads?" he asked.
The racoon rolled his eyes, "Broads," he repeated, "Ya know, the green one and the brown-haired one?"
Peter relaxed slightly. He looked over at Gamora and gave her a cocky grin, "I figured you didn't work well with people," he said, "Seeing as you didn't work well with me."
Gamora shook her head, "I do not work with honorless thieves," she corrected.
"If you say so," Peter replied lightly. He turned back to the raccoon and shrugged, "I've had a lot of folks try to kill me over the years. I ain't about to be brought down by a tree and a talking raccoon and two women."
"Hold," a guard order, stopping the line in its tracks.
"What's a raccoon?" the raccoon asked.
"'What's a raccoon?'" Peter repeated, "It's what you are, stupid."
They stopped talking briefly as they were pointed down a hallway to, presumably, their uniforms. The raccoon was the one that broke the silence first, "Ain't no thing like me, except me," he stated rather proudly.
Shaking his head, a sentiment that Galaxy agreed with, Peter looked over at Gamora once more, "So, this orb has a real shiny blue suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon sort of vibe. What is it?"
"I am Groot," the tree-creature responded, making Galaxy jump at his sudden voice.
"So what?" Getting no reply from the tree-creature, evidently named Groot, he asked Gamora again, "What's the orb?"
"I have no words for an honorless thief," Gamora stated with a sniff.
Peter rolled his eyes. "And what about your friend?" He paused and looked around with a frown, "Where is she by the way?"
Galaxy ducked her head at the question, refusing to even look up at Peter. Until she had better words, her only option was to hide from her brother. She saw Gamora turn around to look at her, but a quick shake of her head was all the message Gamora needed for the green woman to turn around and say to Peter, "She also has no words for an –"
"'Honorless thief,' I got it," Peter finished for her with a shake of his head.
The raccoon sent an annoyed look at Gamora and Galaxy, "Pretty high and mighty coming from the lackeys of a genocidal maniac," he challenged. When Gamora didn't react besides to stiffen, and Galaxy winced at the stares they were suddenly receiving, the raccoon shook his head at them, "Yeah, I know who you two are. Anyone who's anyone knows who the both of you are."
Peter nodded rapidly when the raccoon was done, a movement that made Galaxy's heart twinge from remembered pain; he always nodded like that whenever he was lying, and it made her swallow hard at the sudden memories. It was bittersweet to know that Peter had not changed much while she had, not just in physical appearance, but also in her mannerisms. She could feel the fearful questions bubbling up again: 'Would he even recognize me? Do I want him to?
"Yeah, we know who you two are," Peter agreed, his voice pulling Galaxy from her worries. She watched, smiling slightly, as he looked over at Groot and whispered, "Who are they?"
"I am Groot," Groot said as if it was an answer.
"Yeah, you said that," Peter muttered.
Gamora sighed and looked over at Galaxy, frowning. She bit her lip in obvious reluctance before she turned to the raccoon and revealed, "I wasn't retrieving the orb for Ronan, I was betraying him," Once more, the green-skinned woman flicked her gaze over to Galaxy, who's expression had morphed from one of amusement to one of stone, "I had an agreement to sell it to a third party," she admitted in a softer voice.
The raccoon smiled in a way that was almost too sarcastic, "I bet that just made brown-hair over there real happy, considering her…relationship with Ronan and all."
"I am Groot," Groot said in agreement.
Peter huffed in annoyance, and shoot Groot a look of pure exasperation, "Well, that's just as fascinating as the first eighty-nine times you told me that. What is wrong with Giving Tree, here?"
Realizing the conversation was no longer going anywhere remotely interesting, Galaxy allowed herself to tune it out as much as possible so she could think. She had known Gamora for about a year – a year that Gamora had seemed happy about. There had never been any complaints or differing ideas, so her sudden reveal made Galaxy frown. Sure, when Gamora had first been 'borrowed' by Ronan, Galaxy could easily understand her wanting to betray him – she had, though she hated to think about it now, wondered whether or not reporting his location to Xandar would do any good when she had found out about his deal with Thanos – but that had been months ago, and Ronan had come so far and changed just as much; Gamora had to have seen that. But why betray him now?
This was bad. Very bad. She had planned to wait to contact Ronan, but now it was clear she would have to move up her contact, and she now had to deal with hiding her contact from Gamora as well as everyone else. By the time Galaxy would be able to contact him, a time she could easily see stretching to days, word would have already gotten around of who she was connected with; her reputation had not been a factor until the raccoon had reminded her of it. and it was clear by some of the looks from the people around them that she would be less than safe.
She was forcibly jolted out of her thoughts when she ran into something large and wooden. She looked up in alarm to see Groot peering down at her. "I am Groot?" he somehow said in a question.
"Sorry," Galaxy apologized, taking a step back. She turned her to gaze to reason why they had stopped walking and sighed in exasperation, "Really?" she whispered to herself. Peter had stopped and had started to yell at a blue-skinned, large guard who was using..."Mom's Walkman?" Galaxy whispered once more, this time in shock as she recognized the headphones one the guard. Even if she hadn't seen them in twenty-odd years, she still remembered listening to the music, switching with Peter when his time had run out and it was her turn to listen to one of the coveted songs.
"You son of a...Hey! Listen to me, you big blue bastard. Take those headphones off. That's mine, those belong to impound. That tape and that player is mine!" While yelling at the guard, Peter had stormed into the room and had tried to appear as physically powerful as possible, but that had been a mistakebecause, seeing him as a threat, the guard poked him with some sort of stick that shocked Peter, sending a clearly painful electric current through him.
"Hooked on a Feeling, Blue Swede, 1973. That song belongs to me!" Peter ground out once the current was over. In clear reply, Peter was poked with the same stick, sending a longer electric current through him. Galaxy winced, seeing the pain flash across her brother's face. She turned away, unwilling to see Peter in pain when she could do nothing about it.
After Peter had been kicked out of the room, without the Walkman, the group was forced again into a line. They were finally given the standard yellow uniform of the Kyln and ordered to change, women in one area and men in the other; Galaxy figured the men's area was the same uncomfortable silence as the women's area. No one looked at each other and instead turned to the wall. While they had been told they were welcomed to shower, no one particularly felt up to it. Their personal articles were rounded up by a young female guard and taken off in a messy bucket. Instead of leaving, the woman stood next to the older guard who had been watching them carefully throughout the changing process.
"Are there any other possessions?" the woman asked, her voice uncaring out of sheer boredom. When everyone shook their heads, she nodded, "The Kyln do not allow personal possessions. Should a prisoner be found with a contraband possession, they will be punished. Is that clear?" Her answer was wordless nods, which made the woman smile grimly, "I do not want to be here just as much as you don't want to be here, so play nice! I don't want to have to deal with any of you more than I need to."With a huff and a look of extreme annoyance, she led the group of women outside of the room they had been in, mixing them back in with the men so that they were all in some sort of collection as they headed out to the rest of the prison.
The rest of the prison population looked up with evident interest in the group of new people. Gamora had, wisely, stepped back from the front so she was closer to Galaxy, but that didn't stop the two from getting noticed almost immediately. Galaxy winced as she started to hear whispering from prisoners, followed shortly by sharp glares in their directions.
The tension grew until one man, his voice filled with rage, yelled out, "You first! You first!"
"Murderers!"
"Coming for you first, Gamora!"
"You're dead!"
"You're scum! You're scum!"
Sometime during the cries, food had started to be thrown their way. Gamora had gotten the brunt of it, but Galaxy had a sauce of some sort sliding down her cheek. Gamora swallowed hard. "We should not linger," she said in a low voice. Galaxy looked over to see her flicking her gaze to their cell, which was on the second floor.
Galaxy nodded, frowning as she saw Peter looking around and then looking back at Gamora and herself. For a moment their eyes met, and Galaxy bit her lip, trying desperately not show any sort of recognition or familiar feelings or…She cursed mentally as she saw Peter's eyes widen. He took a small step towards her, his mouth falling open slightly in shock, "Ariel?" he whispered, in a voice so quiet that Galaxy knew only she could hear it.
Unable to form any sort of words in response, Galaxy could only nod. She watched as Peter start to smile, to take another step towards her…And then the damned raccoon had to say, "It's like I said, they've got a rep. A lot of prisoners here have lost their families to Ronan and his goons. They'll last a day, tops."
Peter turned on his heel, only now truly taking in the very, very angry at the prisoners glaring at them. When one of the shouting men called, "Murderers!" Peter turned his own glare towards him.
Behind him, Galaxy could only shake her head. She had once seen Peter's willingness to take on others as brave, but, especially in a situation such as this, she could only describe it as stupid. Thankfully, Peter didn't run to the man and challenge him. He turned to the raccoon and asked, "The guards will protect them, right?"
"They're here to stop us from getting out. They don't care what we do to each other inside," the racoon pointed out.
Gamora suddenly stiffened, the movement drawing Galaxy's attention to her. She glanced over to see the green-skinned woman slightly turning her head, because behind her…Galaxy gulped, "Whatever nightmares the future holds, are dreams compared to what's behind me," Gamora said, a sentiment that Galaxy agreedwith.
The rest of the group turned, almost comically, and stared at the large, blue-skinned creature behind Gamora. He towered over them, his height nearly rivaling Groot's, " Check out the new meat. I'm gonna slather you up in Gunavian jelly, and go to town..."
His threat was cut off by Groot inserting two of his twig-like fingers into the man's nostrils and using them to painfully lift him into the air. The raccoon turned towards the rest of the prison, his eyes clearly on the group of men who had been watching their group almost hungrily, "Let's make something clear. This one here is our booty! You wanna get to him, you go through us! Or, more accurately, we go through you."
Statement clear, Groot dropped the man on the ground, leaving him curled up in the fetal position and whimpering. The raccoon sauntered off, and Groot followed. Peter stayed behind, his gaze going to Galaxy. He opened his mouth, likely to demand they talk, but Gamora was suddenly at her side, placing a firm hand on her arm, "We need to go," she said urgently.
Galaxy nodded. She tried to give an apologetic smile to Peter before she and Gamora walked, trying not to hurry to the point where it looked like fleeing, to their cell. The other inmates continued to hurl their abuse and their food towards them, but it soon did not matter as they both sat down in the cell, the door closing and becoming a barricade.
And if Galaxy saw Gamora flinch when one of the men slammed his first against the door and say in a lower voice, "No cell's gonna protect you two for long," then she did not say.
So I promise Galaxy and Gamora will be able to talk about Gamora's announcement that she's been trying to betray Ronan, it just doesn't happen for a bit. Galaxy takes a long time to think things out because she wants to make sure that she says something meaningful words that will impact the other person so she doesn't have to continue to speak up.
With Peter and Galaxy, I was trying to figure out what would make him go to the bathroom scene besides thinking Gamora is hot, so I figured knowing his sister is there and going to be harmed would make him do everything to get in there and help her. I've really tried to build up their sibling relationship so I hope it seems realistic. Don't worry, they will talk!
And now...review time:
importchic: Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Rylee87: I'm glad you like it!