AN:
Anyone wondering what Taylor is up to, well I am so I'm going to rewind the story a bit and we're going to join Taylor on her search for Peter:
-0-
Taylor walked through the town taking in the less than desirable establishments around her with a curled lip if disgust. She looked up at a brothel and shuddered at the sight of the yellow robot women. After all of those stories about how advanced other species must be and those movies depicting utopian societies she had to admit she was a bit let down.
She had the hood of her tailored ankle length leather duster pulled up over her long light dirty blonde hair as the snow started to fall a little heavier. Underneath her duster she wore a black closed high necked leather top with a v neck opening in front accented in navy blue that reached down to her thighs, a pair of fingerless black leather gloves that reached up to her elbows, a round blue polished stone was hanging from the neck of her top, a loose navy blue knit scarf that hung open down to her knees, a pair of black pants, a pair of knee high black boots, and strapped to her back was Inlustris.
After a brief frustrating word with one of the waiters Taylor slipped into a free table outside the less than desirable bar, taking off her hood as she did allowing her hair to fall free down her back. She also took off her spear laying it across the table as she signaled the bar tender for a drink which she didn't touch, keeping it around more for look than anything else.
She had been staking out bar after bar, which were more brothel than bar, waiting for the ravager captain she had learned used to deal in children. She found out from an informant that he was here at the Iron Lotus, but she had gotten here a bit too late, he was busy and wanted no interruptions according to the waiter.
So she waited as she eyed the rest of the ravagers from all sorts of factions making drunken revelry. A few had thought it would be a good idea to hit on her, those men now supporting third degree burns and frost bite. They had started daring each other as they got drunker to approach her.
Her eyes scanned the crowd, pausing at a tall skinny man glancing at her before ducking his head. He had grey speckled hair shaved closer along the sides and back, but longer on top. He wore a dark red and black leather outfit with the ravager crest on it.
He looked back up at her out of the corner of his eye before quickly taking a shot, like he was trying to get the courage to come over, some of his fellow ravagers encouragingly teasing him. He took in a big breath, letting it out before he wondered over to her sliding into her booth, and Taylor couldn't help, but to notice how blue his eyes were.
"Can I get you a…a drink…?" He trailed off, his cheeks going blue as he spotted her still full drink. At the bar the other ravagers erupted into loud laughter.
"I'd appreciate it, this one ain't doing it for me." Taylor circled her finger on the rim of her glass causing a flash of fire that evaporated the alcohol inside. From what she had heard this was the second in command of the man she was after, might be useful to make nice.
"You ain't going to set me on fire?" He asked in surprise, the other Ravagers now cheering him on. "Or freeze me?"
"Nah." Taylor rested her chin on her closed fist as she smiled at him. "I like your smile."
"Thanks, I like yours to." Kraglin ducked his head then held out his hand. "I'm Kraglin."
"Taylor." She slipped her hand into his.
"That your spear?" He asked as he reluctantly let go of her hand.
"Yeah, this is Inlustris." Taylor patted her spear.
"You named it?" Kraglin looked over the weapon.
It had a broad blade, two hand lengths long, and the hilt was inverted with a smooth curve to it. When unsheathed the blade was revealed to be a gleaming almost glowing silver embedded with a blue harlequin opal eight point star shaped stone on one side and a red harlequin opal in the same shape on the other side. The hilt of the blade was black leather inlayed with in intricate silver design that ended at the silver pummel.
"It came with the name, means starlight." Taylor explained ran her fingers over it then tilted her head to where the other Ravagers were drunkenly giggling, trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues. "You with them?"
"Yeah, I'm second in command of or our faction." He puffed out his chest in pride.
"Wow, impressive." Taylor whistled lowly.
"So, where are you from?" Kraglin asked.
"Oh far away from here." Taylor sighed. "I'm looking for someone that was taken from me a long time ago."
"Oh…I'm sorry. Were they real important to you?" Kraglin asked.
"It was my twin brother, so yeah, they were very important." Taylor looked up at him with a soft sad smile and Kraglin felt his nerves spike again.
The way the snow was drifting and settling into her hair and lashes, her flushed cheeks, she was really pretty. He was about to speak up again to keep the conversation going with her, but one of the Ravagers calling out drunkenly seemed to catch her attention.
"Yondu! Come on down!" An older Ravager, Tullk, drunkenly dancing about on the street waved up at one of the windows on the second story of the building.
"Yondu?" Taylor sat up straight upon hearing the name.
"Yeah, he's our captain." Kraglin nodded pointing over to where Yondu was walking down the stairs from the suite. Two bodyguards, Brahl and Half-Nut, saluted and followed him as he descended the rest of the way down the stairwell.
He paused at the bottom of the stairs spotting a group of Ravagers in blue uniforms laughing. A gruff, older warrior, Stakar, and a man seemingly made of diamonds, Martinex were among them. Yondu was struck by the sight of them, Stakar laughing as he told a story from one of his more amusing past adventures.
"And I was like, Aleta, I love you, but you're crazy now, you always been…" Yondu approached Stakar with trepidation.
"Stakar." Yondu said and Stakar was surprised to see him. "Been some time. I'd…"
"Seems like this establishment is the wrong kind of disreputable." Stakar spat out and the blue-coats turned walking away.
"Stakar..." Yondu tried, but was ignored. Stakar glanced at the proprietor as he passed her by on the way out.
"There are a hundred Ravager factions, Sneeper. You just lost the business of ninety-nine by serving one." Stakar announced to the owners deep dismay.
"Please, sir! Sir!" She stumbled after him, begging him not to black list her amongst the ravagers. Yondu stood there for a moment, hurt, as they head out the door, but, little by little, his hurt turned to rage and he followed. Yondu charged quickly toward Stakar and the others.
"I better get back to the others." Kraglin said sensing trouble brewing, hating that he had to cut short his time with Taylor.
"Not a problem, see you around slim." Taylor nodded with a smirk as he grinned sheepishly before going back to the other Ravagers. Taylors gaze flickered to Yondu and Stakar watching in interest.
"You all can go to hell! I don't care what you think of me!" Yondu snarled at them all and Stakar whirled around toward him, furious.
"Then why you following us for?!" Stakar bit out.
"'Cause you'll listen to what I got to say!" Yondu demanded.
"I don't got to listen to nothing! You betrayed the code! Ravagers don't deal in kids!" Stakar said causing Taylor to go ramrod straight, her nails digging into the table.
"I didn't know what was going on…" Yondu defended himself.
"You didn't know 'cause you didn't want to know, 'cause it made you rich!" Stakar tore him down.
"I demand a seat at the table! I wear the flames same as you!" Yondu gripped the flame emblem on his jacket.
"You may dress like a Ravager but you won't hear no Horns of Freedom when you die, boy, and the Colors of Ogord will not flash over your grave!" Stakar shook his head bitterly. "You think I take some pleasure in exiling you, you're wrong. You broke all our hearts."
Stakar and the others stormed away, Martinex staying a moment, staring at Yondu in disgust, and then moved on too. Yondu was left alone, shaken as the snow fell on his blue face. Taylor almost felt sorry for him, but then again he was getting what he deserved if he really was the one that took her brother. A monstrous ravager leaned in toward Kraglin, Tullk, Gef the Ravager, Oblo, and Retch as he eyed Yondu.
"First Quill betrays us and Yondu just lets him go, scot-free. Now he's getting all riled over nothing. We followed him 'cause he was the one wasn't afraid to do what needed to be done. Seems like he's going soft." He snarled out in a whisper.
"If he's so soft why you whispering for?" Kraglin challenged.
"You know I'm right, Kraglin." He said.
"You best watch what you say about the Cap'n, Tay…" Tulk started to warn him.
"Who the hell is that?!" Retch cut him off.
Tullk and the others gaped when they spotted the High Priestess Ayesha walking past them. The Chambermaids were bent over rolling out a long blue cloth so she didn't touch unconsecrated ground. Yondu eyed them as part way through their walk the roll the cloth was coming from got stuck. The maids struggled as the Priestess struggled as well to maintain her piousness until they finally got it unstuck. They rolled it the rest of the way up to Yondu stopping at the end and does her best to force a smile.
"Yondu Udonta, I have a proposition for you." She said as Yondu eyed her.
Taylor watched as Ayesha spoke to Yondu, her voice now hushed so no one else could hear. Taylor started to drum her fingers again as he waited impatiently for the trophy topper to wrap it up. They seemed to agree and with that the gold woman turned walking away, the chambermaids now struggling to wrap the blue cloth back up behind her as she left.
Her heart beating almost painfully in her chest and the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears Taylor stood from her table walking toward Yondu. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Kraglin watching her wide eyed as made her way, her spear in hand.
"Yondu, I want to talk to you." Taylor demanded gaining the blue man's attention.
"What do you want?!" He snapped as he eyed her up and down, tired of the day's confrontations and not wanting anymore.
"You took something of mine and it's taken me a long time to track you down so I can get it back." Taylor narrowed her eyes at the blue man
"Whatever you think I took girly, I probably already sold it so get over it." Yondu dismissed her.
"And where do you sell the children you take?" Taylor grit her teeth. Yondu froze, turning back to her, anger blazing in his eyes.
"What?" He snarled, his fists gripped at his side as he toward over her.
"The children, specifically the one you took from Earth, what do you do with them?" Taylor snarled right back at him not backing down an inch.
"What's it to you girl?" Yondu sneered, moving his coat out of the way of his arrow.
"That boy you took, he was my twin brother and I want him back." Taylor glared and Yondu's face went slack, his coat end falling back over his arrow.
"You're the girl." Yondu breathed out stiffly.
"Damn straight I am." Taylor ground her teeth tightening her grip on her spear. "Now are you going to take me to my brother or am I going to shove this spear straight down your throat."
"I ain't taking you anywhere girly and you ain't going to do nothin' with that stick." He moved to side step her, but she blocked him. He let out a sharp whistled and his glowing red arrow shot out from its sheath pointing itself firmly at her forehead.
"But mine is so much bigger." Taylor's spear glowed ominously.
"You can't win this one girl." Yondu threatened as everyone around them watched with baited breath, but Taylor had an ace, a very nice gift from Vanessa to help her on her way. Taylor called out a price loud enough that the other Ravagers heard her and perked up.
"You take me to Peter and it's all yours." Taylor grinned viciously, knowing that the money won over his crew and if he turned down easy money like that he'd have trouble amongst them. He glared down at her gnashing his teeth, but Taylor just smiled up at him. Yondu glanced up at his crew and could see them practically salivating.
"Show it to me." He demanded hoping she was bluffing, but Taylor reached into the inner pocket of her jacket and pulled out her proof of payment.
"Satisfied?" Taylor said sarcastically.
"Fine." Yondu snarled. "Kraglin, get over here!"
"Yes captain." The skinny Ravager ran over to them.
"Keep any eye on her." Yondu ordered and turned, pacing back to his ship. Taylor just smiled grimly as she placed her spear back into its sheath on her back.
"You're lucky he didn't stick you." Kraglin commented as he and the other Ravagers made their way back to the ship, many of them eyeing Taylor in one way or the other.
"I wouldn't have given him the chance." Taylor replied walking with her hands behind her back, her posture straight.
"Oh…" Kraglin eyed her as they came up to the ship, wondering if she was as good as she was confident. Honestly her whole life had flashed before her eyes when she saw that arrow in her face, but she didn't want anyone else to know she was scarred. He escorted her inside as everyone was rushing about their duties getting ready to take off. "So you're really Peter's twin sister?"
"Yes." Taylor nodded as Kraglin continued to look at her out of the corner of his eye.
"You look to pretty to be his twin." Kraglin mumbled.
"What?" Taylor glanced at him.
"Nothing." Kraglin said quickly, a light blush on his cheeks.
"Why did Yondu take my brother?" Taylor asked Kraglin as they made their way down the hall.
"For his father Ego…I mean your father to I guess." Kraglin shrugged. "He hired us to find his kids and take them to him."
"Our fathers name is Ego." Taylor echoed, taking note of the interesting name. "He's alive." Taylor laughed a bit in wonder. "We have a father." Kraglin nodded, furrowing his brows when Taylor's face fell. "But you only took Peter. Why didn't you take me to if he asked you to take his kids?"
"Oh…uh…well he only wanted the male…children." Kraglin said reluctantly with a wince.
"Oh." Taylor's crossed her arms casting her eyes to the ground. Taylor cleared her throat pushing her hurt emotions back. "Wait…" Taylor looked at him brows furrowed. "Heirs? How many heirs did you take to him?"
"Quite a few." Kraglin ducked his head shamefully.
"Why did he want all of his male heirs?" Taylor asked, feeling an uneasy shift in her stomach.
"We didn't know why for a long time." Kraglin said hesitantly.
"Didn't know what?" Taylor narrowed her eyes.
"He was…killing them, we don't know why though." Kraglin said ashamedly.
"Killing them!" Taylor echoed in shocked fear.
"That's why we kept Peter so Ego wouldn't get to him." Kraglin told her.
"You kept him safe from Ego." Taylor realized.
"We tried, I mean as much as a Ravager can be safe." Kraglin shrugged with a dry chuckle.
"Either way, thank you." Taylor said to the lanky man who nodded nervously in return. He led her down into the living quarters opening the door to one of the few rooms there.
"Sorry about the mess." Kraglin moved about the room picking up some clothes and a few things here and there. He quickly shoved them in various drawers and shoving some other stuff under the bed.
"Is this your room?" Taylor asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah, well, only me and the captain have set rooms, everyone else just kind of sleeps wherever they fall." Kraglin shrugged straightening the blanket on his bed. "You can stay here during the trip, wouldn't be a good idea if you wondered around too much by yourself."
"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." Taylor took a seat on the end of his bed, crossing her legs as she glanced around herself. Kraglin stood awkwardly not knowing what to say or to do from there, but Taylor had questions. "What happened to Peter since you guys took him? I mean what had he been doing and all that?"
"Oh, well, for a while the Captain kind of took him under his wing and taught him how to be a ravager…." Kraglin shuffled nervously as he told her about her brother leading up to the battle of Xandar, taking a seat on a chair, to nervous to sit next to Taylor on the bed.
"So he's like a hero for the galaxy now?" Taylor asked, wide eyed.
"I guess so." He shrugged. "Him and his friends."
"I'm glad he turned out well in the end there." Taylor laughed with a smile, Kraglin finding her happiness contagious as he smiled back, but once again a frown marred her features. "But he didn't come back…" Taylor became worried as she clenched her hands. "He could have come back to find me, but he didn't."
"He talked about you a lot." Kraglin said quickly, gaining her attention. "He wanted us to go back for you, but we never did. He really missed you, I guess, I mean I think…maybe he was too scared to find you. Maybe he was worried you might not be there or something…." Kraglin stuttered out. "But I do know he really does care about you."
"Thank you Kraglin." Taylor's smile returned.
"Hey Kraglin." There was a loud banging on the door. "Pull your pants back on and get to the helm, Captain wants you now!"
"I'm sorry…about that…" Kraglin's face went so blue Taylor was worried that maybe he wasn't breathing. "I would never do that…well I don't mean I wouldn't if you wanted…I mean I woulnd't do that without you…I…" He backed away toward the door holding up his hands nearly tripping backwards while Taylor watched in amusement. "I better go see what the captain wants."
Kraglin dashed out of the door slamming it behind him in his haste to get away while Taylor pressed a hand over her mouth as she laughed. He was an interesting fellow, that was for sure, and sweet which was interesting considering his occupation.
-0-
Taylor knew she shouldn't be poking around the ravager's room, but she was a bit bored and wasn't really going through anything, just walking around taking in the room. She paused when she came across an old Zune hooked up to some speakers. She glanced at the door before taking a chance and started to scroll through the song list surprised by the amount of earth music there.
Kraglin was making his way back to his room, his mind replaying the tongue lashing he had gotten from Yondu when the Captain had found out he had been talking to Taylor for a while and hadn't realized who she was. In his defense the last time he had seen her the lights of their ships were flashing all around and she was all the way on the ground, plus she had grown up quite a bit.
He came to a sudden stop just outside his door when he heard the music coming from within. He slowly opened the door spotting Taylor as she sang along with "Hey Jude" by The Beatles, swaying in time with the beat. He quickly slipped inside before anyone else came along making sure not to make a sound as he watched her.
Taylor was really loosing herself in the music and the memories they brought with them. She recalled the first time her mother started to teach her how to knit while their music played, Peter making them laugh as he danced around the living room. Not happy to be dancing on his own he had pulled Taylor and their mom into the dance. They spent a lot of time like that before their mother had gotten sick, then everything changed.
Kraglin cleared his throat causing Taylor to startle, spinning around to face him with a spell seal on each hand. The lanky ravager backed up a pace at her sudden defensive posture holding his hands up to show he meant no harm.
"Didn't mean to startle you." Kraglin said as she lowered her hands dispersing the seals.
"It's fine." Taylor said then realized what she had been doing. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't have, but I just really like music and I saw the zune…" Taylor moved over to the player and went to turn it off. "Sorry about that."
"Don't turn it off." He said quickly stopping her. She looked up at him as she shuffled nervously. "This is one of my favorite songs coming up."
"Somebody to Love" by Queen came up. Taylor smiled at the song nodding her approval to Kraglin as she started to sway again.
"Do you dance Kraglin?" Taylor looked up at him.
"Me?! No…" He shook his head quickly. "Don't even know how."
"Come on, I'll teach you." Taylor grinned pulling him to the center of the room. "Just sway your hips a bit." Kraglin hesitantly tried to follow her movements, but was a bit jerky. "Almost, just need to be a little smoother. Here, like this." Taylor placed her hands on his hips guiding them. Kraglin suddenly found it hard to look at her and glanced away. "There you go." Taylor nodded. "You know, really your hands should be on my hips and my hands go here." Taylor placed his hands on her hips and placed hers on his shoulders. "That's better."
"Yeah, better." Kraglin nodded jerkily as they swayed about the room.
"Can't believe you've never dance, especially with my brother around." Taylor commented.
"Why's that?" Kraglin asked.
"Peter was always dancing when the music played. He would always make me and mom dance with him, though it never took a lot of convincing." Taylor absentmindedly played with his collar.
"He danced around a lot, still does as far as I know." Kraglin cleared his throat. "That's how he won that war on Xandar."
"By dancing?" Taylor looked up at him with a raised brow.
"That's how they distracted Ronan." Kraglin nodded. "He and this girl Rhea danced allowing their friends Drax and Rocket to shoot the guy's weapon when he wasn't looking."
"Peter would find a way to use dancing as a weapon." Taylor scoffed then smirked up at him. "You're not so bad at it yourself for a first time. Maybe you could use it in your next fight."
"Oh…" Kraglin realized that they had been swaying pretty easily for some time as they talked. "Hey, this ain't so hard."
"Dancing isn't only about the steps, it's about how the music moves you." Taylor shrugged as the song stopped. "In this kind of dancing there are no wrong steps."
"Thanks for dancing with me." Kraglin said sheepishly as he reluctantly stepped back from her. "I better get back to the helm though, just wanted to check on you. I'll come back with something to eat for you later."
"Sounds good." Taylor nodded. "Do you know if they've found anything on Peter's location yet?"
"Uh…no, not yet…" Kraglin said quickly moving back to the door. "But we'll let you know."
"Ok." Taylor nodded, not believing him for a second. "I'll see you later."
"Right." Kraglin ducked out of the room and Taylor put her plan into action.
