"So,dad..." Orion spoke up as they approached Grandpa Quill's house. This prompted Rocket and Peter to spin around and stop to look in Orion's direction.
"I have been practicing, but, the only one of the Guardians I have been practicing against is Pa... I was wondering if you and I could have a go?" Orion asked as he had his hands in his jacket pockets and stood with a casual lean back position. Rocket's face adopted a sly almost sinister grin at Orion's request.
"Sure son, but you're going to regret asking me for this." Rocket replied his grin not fading from his face.
Peter knew the look on Rocket's face very well it was the same face he had on when they went to face Nebula. Though this time it was more joy than malice, it was still Rocket's 'I want to break something' look. Father and son made their way aboard the Milano to get their gear on. Five or Ten minutes later they re-emerged. Rocket had his twin blasters affixed to his holsters on his back on either side of his jetpack. Orion had his bladed blaster weapons already affixed to his forearms with the blades extended and the training guards on the blades, he also had his new cyber leg enhancements attached.
The two combatants turned to face eachother.
"Ready to lose son?" Rocket smirked.
"I should be asking you the same thing old man!" Orion poked back playfully. Rocket loved when his son made those jibes it showed he was taking after him just a bit more. Without another word they both got in position.
Orion signalled for Rocket to make the first move. Rocket drew his blasters and started his jet pack and immediately began flying in a circular perimeter aound Orion while letting loose a barrage of stun blasts. However Orion had already calculated that maneuver as it was happening and countered the first attack by using a combination of his strong legs and the boosters in his boots to jump clear over Rocket's attack and out of the area. Wheeling around immediately he raised an arm and blasted Rocket out of the air with a stun blast.
"nnngh, okay. So maybe you aren't nearly as easy prey as I thought you would be for me." Rocket mused as he stood back up.
"You actually assumed I would make this easy for you Dad?" Orion taunted. This earned Orion a quick barrage of blaster fire. Orion rolled out of the way before running in to close the gap between Rocket and him while all the while skillfully dodging Rocket's gunfire. As Orion closed in on Rocket he extended his ankle blade and used a low sweeping kick to send Rocket flying to the side. As Rocket landed he looked up to see his Son's bladed ankle and one of his blasters trained on him.
"Very good Orion. I knew working with your strong legs would allow you to become such a better fighter." Rocket congratulated as he conceded defeat. Orion turned off his blades on his leg and disengaged his blaster arm pieces returning his guns to their holsters.
"Thanks dad." Orion said as he helped Rocket up, more out of friendliness than out of need to as he knew his father could easily have up off the ground without a problem.
"Still got a lot to learn though. You may have beaten me this time but that was because you caught me slightly off guard with your new attacks. Next time won't be so easy." Rocket reminded his son.
"Now that being said you have definitely improved and that I will not take away from you. You are groing into both a fine young man and an excellent and skilled combatant." Orion nodded with a grateful grin.
"I understand dad, there is always room for improvement." He agreed.
"Spoken like a true warrior." Drax said and the group turned to face him.
"Oh, hello Drax. When did you get here?" Orion greeted giving Drax a firm handshake.
"I heard the commotion out here and decided to see what it was all about. Once I got out here I stayed to watch how young Orion would fair against his father." Drax explained.
"And I must say I was far from disappointed. Well done young Orion." Drax congratulated Orion with another clap on the back, this one almost knocking an unprepared Orion on to the ground.
"Well now that we all had our fun. Maybe now everyone would like to get ready for Orion's first mission..." Gamora said as she joined the group outside. Gamora flashed a small smile to Orion to show her approval of his fighting skills before turning the smile off and looking back to the rest of the group.
"Right, here's the plan. Since this mission is a test of Orion's ability to be a member of our team, we will have little hand in the mission unless we feel Orion is about to cause the mission to be a failure. We will do our own small parts but Orion will do the brunt of the mission." Peter explained and the rest of the group including Groot who had joined them outside had nodded their understanding.
"According to the details of the mission this guy has three accomplices that follow along with him. Gamora Drax and Groot will take out his goons. While me ad Rocket accompany Orion as backup while he takes out the leader. Is the plan understood?" This was met with another collective nod from the group and everyone but Rocket and Peter boarded the Milano to get their equipment ready for the mission.
"You sure you want Orion to do this?" Peter asked Rocket.
"Yeah, well no... But we have to let him grow up and do this sometime so may as well be now. I may not be 100% comfortable with this but I know it's the right thing to do." Rocket said with a disheartened face. Peter could tell by just looking at Rocket's face that this whole deal had him more panicked than he allowed himself to seem.
"The way we have it set up if things go sour we can easily get Orion out of harms way AND complete the mission we have no real worry here." Peter explained as he tried to reason with his husband. Rocket couldn't bring himself to say anything else. So he settled for simply nodding as he and Peter joined the ret of the team on the Milano.
-Time jump lines are beautiful aren't they?-
The plan had up to this point gone off without a hitch. Each of the robber's goons were occupied with Gamora, Drax, and Groot respectively, and it now just came down to the ringleader. Orion was in pursuit of the robber with Rocket and Peter close behind. Orion used his stun blaster to knock the robber off his feet before running in to close the gap. Just as Orion was about to grab the man and cuff him the man stuck his leg out and tripped Orion before going to stand up.
However Orion grabbed ahold of the robber's leg and slammed him to the ground before pointing his blaster at the man's head. The man however foolish as this may have seemed to any other criminal decided to punch Orion across the face. This momentary distraction allowd the Criminal to get back on his feet and resume fleeing. Unfortunately for him Orion quickly regained his balance and ran after him and used his signature roundhouse kick to send the man into a nearby wall where he slumped down barely concious. Rocket and Peter stood by somewhat surprised at how quickly Orion apprehended the robber as they watched him cuff the man.
"The robber has been apprehended how are you all doing with your catches?" Orion said into his comunicator. Rocket and Peter had agreed to let Orion attempt eing the communications leader as well on this mission to see how he could do.
"We are all clear over here we will bring the rest of the men to your location for pick up." Gamora's voice replied over the communicator. After sending Gamora the coordinates Orion turned off his communicator once more. Not long after, the Milano came in for a landing and Orion loaded the fourth criminal onto the ship before sitting at the dining room table.
"Well done son." Rocket said as he took a seat next to Orion. For once Orion didn't hear any joking or teasing in his father's voice at those words, this time he heard only sincerity.
"Thank's dad it means more to me than you know to hear you finally say that to me in this sort of situation." Orion replied trying to keep a straight face. Rocket inwardly smiled at this moment, despite his fears he was proud of his son and what he did tonight. Rocket will admit to himself he is still going to protect Orion maybe a bit too much in his son's opinion but his son had no doubt become a man in his eyes today.
(Okay I realize this chapter is also kind of short but I wanted to get it up and I had some time before college started for me this morning to type it up so s always I hope you like it.
Until next time,
Nightfire.)