Gamora came to with a pounding headache and a mouth full of bitter dirt. She was laying face down in the ground, limbs splayed in an awkward, uncomfortable position, promising stiff pain if she tried to move. Perhaps that's what had woken her up.
Gamora groaned. What the hell had happened? Peter announced on the comm that they were preparing to land on Athgar-5 and to get ready. They were there to fix the Milano. But then…
They had been shot down, she remembered. What had Rocket called the ones who'd attacked them? Siphon? Sythen? Something along those lines. The name rang a bell, but through her foggy mind and the pulsating pain in her body, she couldn't recall why.
Sitting up, she spat out the grit in her mouth. A racking cough followed the action, and continued for longer than she thought was healthy. At long last though, her chest stopped heaving and was replaced with a dull ache. Hopefully nothing was broken. Although, judging by the crash she'd just endured, she would have thought she would have polytrauma. But at the moment, nothing hurt, too badly at least. But then again, that could be the adrenaline.
Gingerly, she picked herself up again, this time able to get a view of her surroundings. She was in a large blast crater, forest, rocks, and dirt all leveled in a half mile radius, like an asteroid had hit. But there was little to no ship detritus to be seen, as if it had all disintegrated on impact or was pushed even further away by the impact, which would be weird seeing as it was the impact. A crater like this couldn't have been made without it. But still, as she continued looking, there was next to no sign of the Eclector. It was almost as if the crater was caused by another force. Odd.
A light groan behind her had her whipping around and on her feet in no time.
"Mantis!" She cried, spotting the girl a few yards away, clothes filthy but otherwise appearing to be unharmed. She rushed towards her and was at her side in an instant.
She helped the girl up, still careful to avoid direct contact out of paranoia. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"I think so," she replied, rubbing her head tenderly. Gamora could see a bruise forming there, but she wasn't too worried about it. "What happened? I thought we would have died."
"I don't know," Gamora admitted. "By all accounts, we should be."
It wasn't a comforting thought, but it was a logical one, and that was all Gamora could afford herself at the moment.
Mantis looked around, confused. "Where is everyone else?"
Gamora hadn't even thought of that. Swiveling around, she looked around the crater, trying to spot any bodies or wreckage that she knew would mean her friends were there. But the only thing she saw was a man laying in the dirt. It was Peter. And the strangest part, he was laying in the exact center of the crater. She frowned, but shook it off quickly. They had more important things to deal with.
"Well, there's Peter," she said. She turned back to Mantis, giving her another once over to check for anything she might have missed, not wanting to risk anything with her. "Alright," she said. "I'm going to go check on Peter, are you okay to stay here without me?" She asked. Mantis nodded her head yes. Gamora let out a quick sigh and got up to run over to Peter.
She skid to a halt beside him, landing roughly on her knees. His skin was pale and ashy, making her heart jump with fear. Oh god, was he dead? No, he was Peter Jason Quill, he was to stubborn to die.
"Peter," she said carefully, reaching out to check his pulls. His skin was warm to the touch, like any living persons would be, but bodies didn't immediately turn cold upon death. That was something Gamora knew all too well. That thought, coupled with his appearance, made Gamora's stomach clench with fear.
But as if to grant her wish, she suddenly felt a weak pulse beneath her fingers, fluttering just under the skin. He was only unconscious.
"He's okay!" She called back to Mantis. She didn't receive a direct response, but she was sure the young alien was glad. Turning back to him, she checked him over for any serious injury. He had burns on his hands and a gash on his head, but other than that, he seemed okay. But that didn't mean he didn't have any internal damage. And she wouldn't know of any until he woke up.
"Peter," she said, shaking his shoulder. She received no response. She growled in frustration. She tried again to wake him up, shaking harder this time, but still careful not to be too rough in case she hurt him more than he was. "Peter!"
It was a long few moments, in which she held her breath. If he didn't wake up… no, she wouldn't think like that. She couldn't think like that. They had to find the others, and she had to take of Mantis. She couldn't afford to let doubt control her now.
Suddenly, a low groan emitted from Peter, and his eyelids flickered slightly, opening just enough so she could see him looking around him blearily.
"Peter!" She cried, "Peter, can you look at me, can you hear me?"
He seemed dazed and disoriented for a moment, eyes roaming around slowly before settling on her, and from then it looked like he was trying to focus on her, as if he couldn't quite make her out and was trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
"G'mora?" He asked.
"Yes, it's me," she said, relief flowing into her veins.
"You're alive," he sighed, a small smile tweaking his lips up playfully.
"Yeah, I'm alive, thanks to you," she said, feeling her own smile start to form.
His smile soon disappeared to be replaced with a frown as he turned his head to look around the blast crater. She saw him slowly take in his surroundings, and watched as confusion filled his expression.
"Where is everyone?" He asked weakly.
"Mantis is over there," she said, gesturing to the empath, who was sitting where Gamora had left her. "I didn't see anyone else."
Peter frowned, as much as he could in his state anyways. He continued to look around for a moment before his eyes started to slide shut again. That couldn't happen. She had to keep him awake until she knew the extent of his injuries. And he could have a serious concussion, so sleeping was not happening on her watch anyways.
"Hey, hey, stay with me," she urged, cupping his face with one hand, holding onto his shoulder with the other. "I need you to stay awake, Peter."
He blinked up at her, the expression on his face telling her he was processing her words, but eventually gave a slow nod.
"Okay, I need to know if you're hurt," she said, using her firm, in-command voice she used when explaining plans or chastising Groot because he said a bad word. "Does anything hurt?"
"M' head," he mumbled. Gamora frowned, that was obvious enough.
"Anything else?" She asked. Then, moving her hand down from his shoulder, she pressed against his abdomen. "Does it hurt if I do this?"
"No," he mumbled again. She continued pressing lightly across his abdomen until she'd covered all the vital organs that could have been damaged. Nothing seemed to be wrong there. She continued onto his legs. The next thing to worry about was spinal injury.
"Can you feel this?" She asked, running her hand across his thigh. He nodded weakly. "Does anything tingle?"
He paused, as if thinking. "Yeah."
Gamora felt her heart stop. And start. And stop again. Tingling meant spinal injury. Or nerve damage. And as far as she knew, Terran nerve cells weren't easy to heal, even if they got attention immediately, which was looking less and less likely the more time passes. This wasn't good. This really wasn't good.
Finally, she swallowed her fear and asked in a steady, firm voice, "Where?"
"Everywhere?"
Wait, what?
"Are you sure?" She asked. Another pause.
"Yeah," he said in a slurred voice. "S'like my skin's a bug zapper."
She didn't know what a bug zapper was, but the fact the it was his skin that was tingling... That wasn't like any nerve damage she knew about. Maybe it was something else, some injury only a human could get. Whatever it was, she hoped it wasn't serious and wouldn't last.
"Alright," she said, trying to gather herself and form a plan. They had to get out of the open and find shelter as soon as possible. The guys that shot them down might show up again, and the worst thing for them was to be caught unprepared, which was what they were just then. "Okay, we need to get out of here," she decided. "Can you stand?" It was a far fetched hope, but she might as well ask.
"Don't think so," he slurred. Gamora sighed. Oh well. She was strong enough to carry him.
"Mantis," she called, whipping around. The girl looked up from where she sat, tending to a bleeding cut. "We have to get out of her and find shelter. Those guys might show up again. And we still have to find everyone else."
Mantis nodded in agreement and made her way over to them.
Slowly, so as not to jar him, Gamora lifted Peter into her arms. He groaned slightly, but didn't make a fuss or complain, which was very uncharacteristic of him. He didn't even crack a joke about how romantic the situation might be, for which she would roll her eyes and pretend to ignore him. No, instead he looked about to fall asleep again. Which was both odd and worrisome. It was only a concussion, wasn't it? But he looked drained, his face ashen like it had been on Ego's planet when they'd just rescued him from his father. She didn't like seeing him like this. Not again.
'Peter Quill,' she thought to herself. 'What have you done to yourself?'
