The question was: How were we going to deal with a society not from Earth, and an interstellar one at that? I had no clue. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we were approached Xandarian authority. They took us in and separated us. We didn't resist. It probably would have been a bad idea, and they could help us, so we wanted to be on their good side. As we flew in, I couldn't help but notice the destruction surrounding the city. "What happened?" I whispered to Leo.
"I don't know. Don't want to make them angry hacking either." He responded.
I nodded. Leo had the right idea. Leo opened the doors as we set down. Twenty or so armed men and women entered. One blonde lady, whose hair was done up in a twist, snapped "Who is your captain?"
There was a moment of silence, then Will hesitantly said: "Percy's the one in charge." I sighed and stepped forward. "I'm Percy."
The woman nodded and four of the men surrounded me, prodding to make me move. I went, following the woman to a room that looked like a cross between an interrogation room and an office.
"Hello, Percy." The woman said.
"Hi." I responded.
The woman looked at me critically. "This is just a precaution, Percy. Call me Commander Rael."
I smiled. "I wouldn't expect anything less, Commander, assuming I am correct that you recently fought a war or battle of some sort. My name is Percy Jackson."
Commander Rael smiled. It was cold and thin, but it was a smile nonetheless.
"Yes, Ronan, one of the Kree who didn't agree with the peace treaty, attacked us. Needless to say, we won the battle but with some significant losses."
So the Xandarians had a treaty with a society called "The Kree".
Then the questioning began. The first thing she asked was "Is Percy Jackson your full name?"
I smiled and said "Percy is short for Perseus, but I prefer Percy."
She nodded with a satisfied smile. "How many people are under your command?"
"Eight for now, possibly gaining two more soon."
Rael frowned. "What does that mean?"
I shrugged. "We came here to get supplies for a rescue mission for my cousin, and to scout and see if his kidnapper is a threat or not."
She scowled. "A threat to whom?"
I sighed, "A threat to my home planet, Earth." When she gave me a blank look, I said, "Maybe you guys call it something different. Our people have yet to make past our moon, so I doubt there are many of our species in your society. We're the exceptions, and honestly, I'm not sure where we got some of the technology we were provided with."
Rael nodded. "Well that answers that question…" She muttered, without explaining. "Who are your people?"
"Leo, Hazel, Connor, Travis, Piper, Frank, Clarisse, and Will."
"And who is who?"
"Well," I began, "There's Leo. He's the small one with brown hair and the tool belt. Hazel's the girl with the dark skin and bushy hair, Connor and Travis are the ones that look like twins. Piper has dark skin but it's lighter than Hazel's and her hair isn't bushy, Frank's got black hair and pale skin. Clarisse is the big burly girl, and Will is the tanned one with blond hair."
"Last question. How do we know you aren't working for Thanos?"
I scowled. "Thanos is the guy who kidnapped my cousin. I'm guessing, by your question about him, he is a threat."
Rael nodded. "Yes. Ronan was one of Thanos' subordinates gone rogue."
I cursed. "That's just…. Perfect. Just perfect."
She smiled sympathetically. "Yes. You will be allowed to go free, Percy, but we will be tracking you. If you try anything, you will be taken in."
I nodded. "That's fine. Probably a good idea to have someone who knows where we are at all times anyway."
Rael raised her hand. The people who took me in lead me out. "You will be directed to the guest rooms. There is another group living there until their ship is fixed. Try to get along. Some of them are stand-off-ish."
I smiled. "Thanks Commander!"
Outside the room, everyone was waiting for me with their guards. I smiled, "Well, Commander Rael has agreed to help us get what we need. Umm… She said that Thanos is most definitely a threat, so we'll have to contact Earth somehow. And we'll be staying near another group of people and to get along."
The guards looked at Rael, who nodded in agreement.
Our rooms were fairly large. Not very, but enough to hold all two of us in each. As the odd one out and the leader, I had one all to myself. Rael told us we had the wing to explore. Two doors down from Hazel and Franks' rooms were the rooms for the other group Rael told us about. We didn't know their names, but from what some of the guards said, they were a recently brought together group of convicts who warned Xandar about Ronan's attack and were subsequently pardoned of all crimes. I explored the area, finding a cafeteria as Piper chattered in my ear.
"I miss Jason."
"I do too, Piper, but it's only been, like, five hours."
"Feels like longer."
"Yeah, I know. I don't like being so far from Annabeth."
"Hmm… yeah, maybe that's why I feel so torn up already."
"Who you talking to?"
I yelped, turning around to find a raccoon, holding a potted stick with eyes.
"Percy? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Piper. Just ran into someone. I'll talk to you later."
I stared down at the raccoon, who said, "Who's Piper? That your girlfriend?"
Sure. Talking raccoons. Not the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. "No. Piper's dating my cousin. We were lamenting the separation from our significant others."
"Sure, sure." The raccoon didn't sound like he believed me. "I'm Rocket. This is Groot." He ducked his head as he poked the stick, which giggled. Talking sticks as well. That was when I noticed the metal pieces on Rockets back.
"Name's Percy. What happened to you?"
Rocket straightened up, managing to look down on me, despite being only two-and-a-half feet tall.
"Aint nothing like me 'cept me!" He declared. I took that to mean he didn't want to talk about it.
I raised my hands. "Cool it. Didn't mean to offend you. Proudly unique. Got it."
Rocket scowled. "I am groot." Groot said.
"Groot wants to talk to Peter. Goodbye." Rocket said, and turned around and walked off.
"Right. Stand-off-ish. Try to be nicer, Percy. Have some tact."
"Hey, Percy. Piper told you were acting weird. You okay?" Leo asked.
"I'm fine. I ran into two of the other group. Their names were Rocket and Groot. Groot was some kind of plant creature that Rocket carried around in a pot, and Rocket himself was a biped raccoon? But also the sort to viciously murder someone because they called him a raccoon, so… I kind of offended Rocket, so we may or may not need to fix that."
"Percy!"
"I know, I know. I'll apologize next time I see him."
Hazel spoke up; "Try not to say things that can be perceived as offensive, Percy. We really don't need more enemies."
"I know Hazel. I have no tact. I just told myself that." I sighed. We were in over our heads.
