Chapter eight
It was almost too easy. It seemed like there was no one around at all. I glanced over at Peter, who was leading us through the maze, Gamora walking beside him, me and Rocket walking side by side, Groot on Rocket's shoulder.
"I'm kinda worried about the security of this place," I muttered, glancing down at Rocket, "We've been walking around this place for ten minutes and haven't seen a single security guard."
"That's because no one expects people to be dumb enough to break into this place," Rocket explained, "They have security other than people, you know."
"Yeah, but... guards are still a pretty good place to start. Everywhere has security personnel. It's the most basic of the rules of security. Tech can be hacked. And do you really think someone like Thanos would give a damn about a couple of bits of tech that he could probably destroy with a click off his fingers?"
"HA!" Rocket barked, grinning in a very not nice way, "Like that guy would care about a couple of useless security guards? He'd probably get through them easier than the tech." I stayed silent a moment, then sighed, nodding slightly reluctantly.
"I suppose you have a point," I muttered, "I still think it's kinda stupid of Nova Corps though."
"Maybe we just haven't come across the security guards yet. Maybe that bother is yet to come." I smiled, shaking my head. The thing was that I could feel very few people in the building, even when I reached out with my mind to actually scope out the air currents of this place. Rocket was looking at me slightly funny when I next actually started paying attention which was probably a couple of minutes later.
"Have I got something in my teeth?" I asked, leaning my head to the side slightly.
"Those things on your arms," I lifted my right arm slightly, looking at my gauntlet, "What do you think they'd be worth?" He asked. I scoffed, letting my arm drop to my side again.
"They ain't for sale."
"But if they were..."
"They wouldn't be much use to anyone else. I don't even know what they're actually made of."
"You saying they're useful to you?" Rocket looked confused and I smiled slightly.
"Yep."
"How? They're just a hunk of really pricey looking metal and a few jewels."
"They help me control my powers. Mean I don't use my energy so fast," I explained, "My brother gave them to me."
"Humie brother or Asgardian brother?" I looked down at him and leaned my head to the side, "Quill mentioned you have family back on Earth." He explained.
"I see..." I looked up at Peter, who had his back to us still, "Thor gave them to me."
"So you two are pretty close?" Peter interrupted us before I could answer, sighing and looking at a panel on the walls. Rocket and I stopped beside him and Gamora.
"What is it?" I asked.
"We keep going and we get electrocuted." He grumbled, pointing at it before walking over to it and carefully taking the cover off it, looking at all the wires, trying to figure out what to do. I raised an eyebrow and walked over to him, taking him by the shoulders and moving him out of the way, starting to figure out all the wires in this beautiful piece of tech.
"So how do you know we'll be electrocuted if we keep going?" I asked.
"This thing makes a mesh-like thing out of beams of light. You touch the beams, you get electrocuted with about 5000 volts. Stop you dead in your tracks." He explained. I shook my head.
"It ain't volts that kills you. It's the amps," I explained, "And I really don't think that Nova Corps would use something that would kill you as one of their security features."
"Alright, so it makes it damn hard to breathe and leaves you with some pretty bad burns. That can kill you, right?"
"Pre-existing medical problems, don't get help fast enough, sure... has a chance of killing you I guess," I muttered, "So we are looking at somewhere between 0.01 and 0.1 amps... should be fun." I looked around at him and grinned, then went back to the nice little panel which I could swear the tech inside it was becoming my best friend.
"Does she even know what she's doing?" Gamora asked, just as I started fiddling around and crisscrossing wires, pulling out a few others, shaking my head in disappointment. Having to do this was really mean. I stepped back and walked over to Peter, just looking at him.
"You done?" He asked,
"One way to find out," A sly smirk slipped onto my face and I shoved him to where the beams of light would have been, nodding in satisfaction when he didn't get zapped, "Oh good, I didn't just end up raising the amps." Rocket laughed while Peter just looked at me, horrified.
"That was a risk?!" He demanded.
"Not a big one," I chuckled, "I've dealt with the laser security things back on Earth, this wasn't way too different," I explained, walking past him, "But yeah... it was still a risk."
"And you chose to test it on me?"
"Gamora would have just thrown me in there instead and if I had messed up I would have gotten Rocket to have a go. You were the best choice."
"What about Groot?!"
"Ah... He's wood..." I explained, "Not the best conductor. And besides, he's tiny, probably would have just walked straight through the gaps." I grinned.
"Why did I even agree to coming along..." Peter muttered and even Gamora was smiling a little by now.
"You call yourself Star Lord," I chuckled, "I think you're just being lead on by delusions of grandeur." Peter darted forwards, trying to grab me to get payback, but I just danced out of his way and continued on my way, poking my tongue out at him.
"I didn't think this was how breaking and entering was supposed to work." Rocket muttered.
"It must be a human thing." Gamora added.
"I am Groot."
"What do you mean? It's a guardians thing?" Rocket looked at the twig on his shoulder incredulously.
"I am Groot."
"First of all, I am not a raccoon!" Rocket growled, "Second... Alright, I'll give you that one."
Rocket and I set to work pretty much as soon as we arrived in the room with the stone secured in it, though it was difficult to tell exactly where the stone was. One wall was completely lined with safety deposit boxes or whatever, which took me a bit by surprise.
"OK, how are we supposed find that stone?" I asked, looking down at Rocket, "No way we'll be able to search every one of these damn things, even if they weren't locked."
"Well, you better think of something," Peter told us, "No clue when security might arrive."
"You think we still might have tripped something?"
"We don't know," Gamora joined Peter keeping watch at the only entrance to the room, "Which is why you should try and work this out as fast as you can."
"Bit pushy aren't they," I muttered, looking back at the wall of boxes, "I'm gonna guess that just looking for energy signatures is out of the question?"
"Most likely," Rocket nodded, "But don't worry about it. I know exactly what to do." He grinned, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a small device. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"No blowing things up." I scolded.
"Why not? We'd find the stone."
"We're trying to make it harder for Thanos to get it, not easier."
"Kill joy," Rocket muttered, putting the thing back in his pocket, "Can I shoot them open?"
"Same problem, smart guy," I frowned, "Why are there no key holes?" I asked.
"All electronically controlled. There is a key hole, just not on the boxes." Rocket explained.
"So these are all controlled by a computer."
"Yep."
"Where's the computer? Nearby, surely?" I looked down at him and Groot, who was still sitting on his shoulder.
"Course. Surprised you haven't spotted it by now."
"Rocket..."
"It's just over there." I looked at the wall he was pointing at and frowned.
"There's nothing there."
"You humies... can't see anything..." He grumbled, walking over to the wall.
"Technically humans have better eyesight than raccoons." I muttered back.
"I'm not a raccoon!"
"Bit of a sore spot for ya, huh?" I smirked.
"I am Groot."
"But it's what he is," I shrugged, "Though he's slightly smarter than most raccoons. Only slightly."
"I am Groot."
"I'm not a bloody raccoon!"
"If ya say so, buddy. Now where's this computer?" He scowled at me, then pointed up at a button which was just out of his reach. I raised my eyebrows and stepped over to press the button, looking around as a panel slid out of the wall, revealing a computer. I grinned.
"That's cool. Where do I get one?" I walked over to it and got a bit of a surprise as Rocket climbed up my back, leaning over my shoulder, "Comfortable?" I asked.
"Only way I'm gonna manage to reach the keyboard." He explained.
"Aha." I wasn't too convinced that was the only reason, but I shook my head and looked back at the screen as Groot moved around to my other shoulder, "You sure you aren't hoping for another belly rub?" I teased as I turned on the computer.
"I hated that belly rub."
"I am Groot."
"I am not lying!"
"I am Groot!"
"Don't worry about it, Groot. I know." I laughed.
"You want to stop fooling around and get to work?" Gamora called over. I waved my hand to show her I'd heard, then started typing away and hacking the computer, which I managed fairly quickly.
"You're good at this." Rocket sounded vaguely impressed as he perched on my shoulder.
"Been hacking stuff since I was about thirteen probably," I explained, "Messing around with computers for a lot longer. Oh, how time flies."
"You want to find a file on the stone."
"Funny enough, I had worked that out." I started typing slightly faster, pausing briefly to wriggle the fingers on my left hand which still wasn't quite right after I stabbed it with a pair of scissors to save myself from being strangled. Good times. Rocket just watched for a moment while I thought, still trying to find the right number for the safety deposit box containing the stone.
"We even sure it's in here?" I asked.
"Move it humie." Rocket ordered and I shook my head, my eyes turning green as I created a solid platform out of air for him to sit on while he typed away, placing my hand on it and pressing down to make sure it was actually weight bearing. Rocket then leapt from my shoulder to the platform and started typing while I looked around at all the boxes, pulling out the device we were gonna be using for identifying the type of energy of the stone and record it, scanning the boxes. There was definitely something strange in one of them... Alright, several of them. It was just a matter of identifying which of these boxes were more likely to house the stone, try and narrow the search a little. I frowned slightly, looking around at Peter before walking over to him.
"Can I borrow your mask thingy?" I asked. He shared a look with Gamora, then looked at me again.
"No." He sounded rather indignant.
"I'll give it right back, promise." He sighed, then took off the thing from behind his ear and passed it over to me. I nodded my thanks to him then turned back to the boxes, placing the piece of tech being my ear and pressing the button to activate it.
"I am Groot?"
"I have an idea is all." I muttered to him, taking the mask off again and pulling another thing out of my pocket, pressing it against Peter's tech and coming up with a small holographic screen. I raised my eyebrows as I looked at the lines and lines of coding, impressed. I looked over at Groot.
"I should steal Tony's tech more often." I smirked.
"I am Groot." He looked really happy for some reason and it was adorable. I scoffed, then looked back at the lines of coding on Tony's tech (which I had every intention of returning... eventually), then starting to type away and adding a bit more coding in places.
"Shall we see if it doesn't blow up on my face?" I muttered.
"What did you just say?" Peter looked at me in horror while I put his tech back behind my ear and threw a smile in his direction, pressing the button to activate it, then looked back at the boxes.
"This is weird," I chuckled, "Rocket?"
"Kinda busy succeeding where you failed." He replied.
"I don't really know this numbering system, but try narrowing the search to 53, 62, 84, and 95." I told him, those boxes having the strongest energy readings coming from them. Rocket spun around on the platform and looked at me rather grumpily.
"And how could you possibly narrow it down to those four options just by taking Quill's mask?" He demanded. I pressed the button again, going along and messing around a bit more with the coding.
"I'm pretty smart, Rocket. Messing with Peter's tech wasn't that hard."
"What did you do?"
"Improved it. Sorta. Currently I'm making it so you can turn my improvements on and off as you want," I muttered, then tested it before hanging it back, "There ya go. Have fun," I turned to Rocket, "Got anything?" Rocket started grumbling as he turned back and started typing away again.
"84," He said, typing away a bit more, "And now we would need the key if you'd didn't have a genius with you."
"Thanks, Rocket. I'm flattered." I smirked as Rocket laughed harshly.
"You think I was talking about you? As if!" I rolled my eyes and stepped forward, picking him up with one hand and letting the platform dissolve, my eyes still green as I started picking the lock with the air, frowning slightly as I figured it needed an electric component, so added in a bit of water bending and having my eyes now green with strands of blue woven through. The box clicked open and I looked down at Rocket smugly.
"See? I'm a genius."
"I could have done it if you hadn't started manhandling me." He grumbled as I set him back down on the ground, then placed Groot on his shoulder, ignoring Rocket as he started complaining to Groot while I stepped over to the safety deposit box and peered inside. Peter walked up behind me and picked up a sphere, opening it calmly to reveal a purple stone in its centre.
"This thing is the reason I found out I'm half alien." He muttered. I looked up at him.
"You don't know your dad, do you?" He shook his head, looking down at me and I could see in his eyes how much it bothered him, "Well, don't let it bother you."
"How? Why not?" He sounded so quiet.
"Because fathers are never what you expect in a situation like ours. Just be glad you knew one of your parents, and be thankful for the family you have now." I looked down at the stone, producing the tech to read the energy signature, nodding when I had it.
"We good?" Peter asked.
"Yep. Now let's get out of here."
Yeah, I'm still being slow uploading... I'm sorry... Won't even bother with excuses... Hope you lot enjoyed the chapter :)
