The cams went dead. The static and blackness of the screens, made Rocket panic. He quieted down when he realized how loud he was being. Maia was still asleep on the chair and he knew if she were to wake up, manners would only get worse. The genetically-modified raccoon tried to get the system running again. He wasn't able to get live feed, but he was able to restore earlier footage from right before the explosion.
Gamora's cam was still dead at the time, but Peter and Drax's were up and running. He watched Peter's feed first. The sound of Rocket's voice echoed through the audio. 'Quill! That man-whore is Friah!' Rocket watched as Peter quickly pulled out his blaster and aimed it at the man who was dangerously close to Gamora. In the blink of an eye, the blast was fired and Peter dived on top of Gamora, causing the both of them to slide onto the bar counter and fall behind it. That's when Peter's cam went dead.
Drax's cam was the last to die. After the blast was fired, Drax ran into the main room. He saw the grenade falling from Friah's jacket as he dove behind the wall at the last second. Then, static.
Rocket scratched his head. "They have to be alive." He whispered to himself. His button nose twitched as he shuffled around room, trying to find a way to contact the rest of the Guardians, in hopes that they were still alive.
It all happened so fast. His unbelievably accurate shot and the explosion that came just seconds after. Peter was barely able to process the whole event. The only thing he remembered was seeing Gamora, whip around as soon as the blast fired. It wasn't long after that he saw the grenade dropping out of Friah's jacket. He flew across the bar and dove on top of Gamora. The two fell behind the bar counter.
The grenade hit the ground and the bar burst into flames. Gamora held Peter close, covering the back of his skull with her hands, protecting him from the flying residue and debris.
Peter slowly lifted himself off of Gamora. He looked down into her dark brown eyes as she started coughing. "You okay?" Peter asked in a hoarse voice, caressing her cheek, causing her to look up at him. The green woman nodded as she continued to cough.
"I'm fine." She gazed into his eyes for a moment, before noticing the large gash on his forehead. "Oh my God, Peter!" Gamora gently felt around the wound, inspecting him for a broken skull. She accidentally touched it, causing Peter to flinch and fly backwards.
Peter stood up. "I'm fine, Gamora. It's just a scratch." He felt the wound and looked down at his fingers, which were covered in blood.
"Just a scratch, my ass." The woman's black and red ombre hair flipped around as she frantically searched for one of the cloth napkins, the bartender used when he was serving drinks. She found one beside her and handed it to Peter. The man dabbed his forehead with it, giving Gamora a soft smile.
Gamora's eyes grew huge as she stood up and whipped her head around. "Where's Drax?!" She asked in a slight panic.
"I am right here." The muscular man stumbled into the room, coughing. Gamora and Peter let out a sigh in relief.
"Well, this wasn't how this night was supposed to go."
Gamora looked down at her feet and saw burning bodies of innocent men and women. She gasped, stumbling backwards into Peter. He grabbed her arms from behind, steadying her. "We were supposed to prevent this." She turned around to face the two men behind her.
"There's nothing we could've done, Gamora."
The woman nodded. "We need to get back to the ship and contact Nova Prime."
"I'll contact Rocket now and let him know that we're okay." Peter reached for the piece of metal behind his ear. He pressed the button as his mask materialized over his face. However, something was wrong. When he tried to call Rocket, there was nothing but static on the other line. "Shit." Peter said under his breath.
"Let me try to contact our furry companion." Drax reached for his prototype transmitter, but it crumbled into shards in his hands. Gamora tried as well, but the same happened to her's. The impact from the explosion destroyed them and they had no way of contacting Rocket.
"I guess we're just gonna have to walk back." Peter let out an exasperated sigh and dematerialized his mask.
As if things couldn't get worse for the trio, the ground started to crumble underneath them and before they could even move, they were pulled into the cellar of the bar, trapped underneath the remains of it.
Rocket glanced over at the sleeping child once again. He turned his head towards Groot, who was wide awake in his pot and had tears in his eyes. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll find em'."
The raccoon sighed. "We can't leave her behind and if we take off with the ship, she'll wake up." He lowered his ears and wrinkled his nose. "I guess all we can do right now is wait."
The cellar was dark and quiet. The only sounds came from the trio coughing, the debris falling and Peter's Walkman softly playing 'Don't Fear the Reaper'. The ex-ravenger was the first to stand up. "Well, this day just keeps getting better and better!" Peter exclaimed sarcastically. He brushed himself off as Drax and Gamora stood up, both in coughing fits. "So, we have two choices; we can either try to get out of this dump or we could wait for the Nova Corps to get here and dig through all the rubble."
"I would rather get out as soon as we can." Drax stated, grabbing his daggers out of his boots.
"Me, too." Gamora replied, reaching for her Godslayer. It was gone. "Dammit."
"Don't worry, I have my quad blasters." The man reached for his blasters, but one was missing. "Well, one." He sighed and twirled the weapon in his hand.
Peter aimed at one of the hollow pieces of rubble. The emerald woman beside him lowered his arm. "Wait. We need to plan this out. One bad shot will make this whole building crash down on us."
"Isn't that what just happened?" Gamora glared at him with her hands on her hips. Peter sighed. "You're right." He clipped the blaster back into his holster. "Any ideas?"
Gamora scanned the cellar, which was filled with crates and shelves crammed with foreign alcoholic beverages. She noticed a small crevice above the staircase and walked towards it. "We could start pulling out the looser pieces and go from there." Peter nodded as he and Gamora started digging through the rubble. Drax placed his daggers back into his boots and joined them.
After what seemed like hours of digging through rubble, the trio were finally able to increase the size of the crevice. However, they pulled out too much and the rest of the building started to collapse. Peter quickly grabbed a prototype aero-rig out of his pocket and placed it on his back, activating it. He put an arm around Gamora's waist and the two of them levitated into the air. They flew to a sturdier part of the lot and Peter released his arm from the emerald woman's waist, allowing her to jump to the ground.
He flew back into the building, which was still in flames. Several minutes later, he managed to escape right before the building completely collapsed, struggling to carry Drax with him. He threw himself onto the ground, landing onto his hands and knees and groaned. Gamora rolled her eyes as Drax lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "Jesus, you're heavy." Peter moaned. He picked himself back up and adjusted his jacket. The man pulled something out of his jacket; Gamora's Godsayer. He handed it to her, earning a small 'thank you'. "We should wait for Nova to get here. Don't wanna make this look worse than it actually is."
Gamora shook her head. "No." Brown eyes met hazel as the woman crossed her arms. "We need to go back to the ship first. We don't have any way of contacting Rocket, Groot and Maia and they have no clue if we're alive or not."
"I know, but-"
An emerald hand found its way to Peter's arm. "They'll understand. Nova trusts us. We'll call them as soon as we get to the ship." They stood in that position for a moment, gazing into each other's eyes. Drax shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. Gamora violently drew her hand back and started walking back to the ship. "I'm already almost to the ship! You two are too slow." She teased, trying to hide her slight embarrassment.
Gamora entered the refurbished ship, covered in ash and soot. The two men followed closely behind. Groot was the first to see the trio walk in. "I am Groot!" He chirped cheerfully. Rocket whipped around with a slight sigh of relief.
"Where the hell were ya' guys?! I had to watch this little dimwit longer than I intended to!" He stage whispered, trying to hide his concern. He approached them slowly and crossed his small, furry arms.
"Cut the shit, man. We know you were worried about us." Peter took off his jacket and threw it on the ground.
Rocket rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Sure."
Peter grabbed a data pad and walked up to the cockpit, ignoring Rocket's snide remark. Drax stretched his arms up and he and Rocket walked to their beds.
Groot whined a little trying to get Gamora's attention. The green woman approached him, softly smiling. She stroked his cheek with her finger; something she had found herself doing often subconsciously."Hey there, big guy. Were you good for Rocket?" Groot nodded, his big eyes glued to Gamora's. "Good boy." The woman's brown eyes traveled to the sleeping child on the chair as her smiled faded. Her finger slowly trailed off of Groot's cheek as she approached the young girl.
Her small eyelids were squeezed shut as if she was having a nightmare or had trouble falling asleep. Her lower lip started to quiver and her petite, curled-up body became tense. She started to tremble and the grip on her stuffed flerken tightened. Gamora knelt beside the chair and gently shook the young girl. Maia's hazel eyes fluttered, but didn't open. She stretched out her whole body, letting the stuffed flerken drop to the floor. "We're back." Gamora whispered, rubbing her hand in circles on Maia's back.
The little girl rubbed her eyes roughly. "Mommy?" She questioned, sleepily.
Gamora's eyes widened as a inaudible 'what?' escaped her mouth. She became alarmed; she wasn't a mother, nor did she deserve to be one. She quickly realized that Maia never woke up and was still deep in slumber. Maia continued to tremble. Gamora tucked an ebony ringlet behind her ear and started to thumb the temple of her head. The young girl leaned into her touch, loosened up and grew a soft smile.
The woman stood up and lifted Maia into her arms. The half-asleep child wrapped her arms around Gamora's neck and her legs around her abdomen. She dug her head into her neck. Gamora carefully bent down and grabbed the stuffed flerken that Maia refused to part with. She turned around to a once in a lifetime experience; Groot climbing out of his pot. She started nudging Maia excitedly. "Look, Maia, look!" She whispered. The girl opened her eyes and grew a large smile as she watched the, now toddler, tree waddle around, stumbling over his own two feet.
"He's so cute!" She squealed quietly, rubbing her eyes.
"He is, isn't he?" Maia nodded. "So are you." The young girl giggled quietly as she leaned her head back on Gamora's shoulder and her eyes fluttered shut. "Let's get you, both, to bed." Gamora gestured for Groot to follow her. He stumbled multiple times as he followed her to her cabin.
Next Chapter: After waking up from a nightmare, Gamora runs into a drunk Peter, who reveals an embarrassing secret about his past.
