The Start Of War
Courtney and Harmony were progressing nicely in the Infirmary, but Peter was not looking forward to being the one to tell them that Alexi was gone. Since the girls were up and functioning now, it was time to drop the bomb.
"Hey guys, how are you doing?" Peter asked as he entered their room.
Harmony held up her arm to indicate the IV pumping drugs through her veins. "How do you think I'm doing Quill?" She asked.
"Look, I know things aren't exactly going as planned right now, but-"
"Where's Alexi?" Courtney interrupted Peter. She was staring intently at him, her blue eyes boring into his brown ones. "Is she in even more trouble now?"
Harmony sat up straighter. "It wasn't her fault what happened, we pushed her too hard! We got a little carried away and she snapped, blame us not her!"
Peter motioned with his hands for them both to calm down. "Now I don't have the best news regarding Alexi. She is in quite a bit of trouble for damages and attempting to harm you two." Peter paused to think about how he wanted to phrase his next statement. You best friend has vanished without a trace and it's the highest possibility that she joined Hijinx, seemed a little bit too much information to take in. On the other hand, Alexi's gone and she's super pissed at Xandar and super powerful, was more or less saying she had threatened them when she hadn't, had she? On the other other hand, Alexi disappeared and she's super powerful and could be turning evil, was easier to take in but at the same time not, get it?
"Quill!" Harmony shouted. Peter snapped himself out of his thoughts and looked at the two elementals. Both Courtney and Harmony looked scared to death about his next words and he honestly couldn't blame them. "Where is Alexi?" Harmony asked slowly.
Just tell them the truth. Peter's conscience spoke. He would, he would just say that Alexi was gone and upset, that's all he had to say. "She's not available at the moment." Peter said with confidence. No you stupid idiot! His conscience screamed at him.
"What do you mean?" Courtney asked, her voice sounding small and frail. "Is she locked up somewhere or is she hurt? Is she, is she d-, is she dead?" Tears sprung into Courtney's eyes as she stuttered out the last part. Peter shook his head even though he had no idea where Alexi was or if she was still alive. He hadn't even considered how Alexi would get to wherever Hijinx was. Maybe Courtney was right, maybe Alexi hadn't tried to find Hijinx. Maybe her goal had been suicide.
"I don't know anything about Alexi." Peter answered truthfully. "She's not with the Novacore currently." His heart sped up as he tried to force the truth out. "Alexi disappeared, without a trace, and we have no clue where she is or if she's okay."
Courtney was the first one to start crying. "This is all our fault!" She sobbed. "Harmony and I were too harsh, we never considered her or her feelings. We just accused her of being a traitor and now she could be dead!"
Harmony reached over and put her hand on Courtney's forearm. "We will find her Court." Harmony said as her voice shook. "Alexi's smart, she knows how to get by on her own."
"Yeah on Earth!" Courtney shouted as more tears rolled down her face. "We're in space! She'll be dead within days, and that's if she's not dead already!"
Harmony squeezed Courtney's arm. "Don't talk like that. You and I both know that Alexi would never do anything stupid. She's a planner, not impulsive. If she does anything it's planned out and perfectly executed."
"That was before we became elementals." Courtney pointed out in between sobs. "Recently she hasn't thought anything through, she would just act on whatever impulse she had!" Courtney looked at Harmony. "Don't tell me that you haven't noticed her change as well." Harmony silently nodded her head.
Peter was calmly backing out of the room to let the two of them deal with this on their own when Nova Prime opened the door and pushed Peter back into the room. "Ow." Peter mumbled as both Nova Prime and Denarian Dey walked by him towards Courtney and Harmony.
"Girls, I'm glad to hear that you're doing better." Nova Prime said professionally. Courtney had stopped crying but her face was stained with tears while Harmony was wiping lone drops from her eyes. "I guess you've heard the news about Alexi." Nova Prime said, her professionalism dropping. They both nodded.
"We actually have some news on her." Dey spoke up. He walked around Nova Prime to show the girls a hologram of a security video. In the video there was a Xandarian spaceship launch about to start. Xandarians who needed to travel elsewhere in the universe were boarding. All of a sudden the video froze and zoomed in on a small figure climbing aboard a ship set for the star system Godsyi. The figure was dressed in a black jumpsuit and was glancing around warily. The only distinguishing feature was the person's humanoid figure and bright red hair.
"That's Alexi!" Courtney shouted. Dey nodded and the video resumed. Alexi got on the ship and the video sped up to show the ship taking off before cutting out.
Dey put the hologram away. "That was taken the day Alexi left Nova Headquarters. Nearby a clothing store was broken into and a black flameproof jumpsuit was stolen. Then Alexi boarded the ship." Dey then pulled up a map of nearby star systems. He zoomed in on one that was near the outskirts of Nova territory. "This is Godsyi, it's a star system nearly outside our boundaries. There's a cluster of 7 planets around it but only 3 are habitable. Out of those 3 only 1 is within our boundaries. The other two are in Kree territory, but Kree don't patrol right along their borders all the time especially with the conflicts they're having currently with trading between them and the Skrull. So those two planets are under next to no supervision." Dey pointed at one. "This planet is known as Kortava. It is the fifth planet from the star system. We believe that this planet is where Hjinx is located. Alexi traveled there because the ship that she was on was hijacked after its landing on Recor, the third planet from the system and the only habitable one within our boundaries. The ship's GPS was disassembled, but on the security tape on Recor Alexi never got off, so we know it's her."
Courtney and Harmony stared at the picture of Kortava in shock. "So that's where Hijinx is." Harmony whispered.
"That's where Alexi is." Courtney replied. She looked up. "We need to go get her before she does anything stupid!"
Nova Prime shook her head. "We can't do that. Kortava is out of our boundaries. We would be violating our tense peace treaty with the Kree if we crossed the border. Just the fact that Alexi used a Xandarian ship to get across puts all of us at risk of Kree retaliation. Us crossing to get her could lead to conflict which would immediately draw the Kree's attention. Right now our best course of action is to just sit tight and wait to see if she comes back or if we can convince the Kree to let us over to get her."
Peter nodded. "i agree with Nova Prime. If we cross over too much the Kree will eventually notice. Believe me, they do not take unwanted visitors nicely." He shook his head. Both girls looked heartbroken to know that getting Alexi back was not an option at this point.
"There has to be something we can do though!" Courtney cried. Tears were starting to flow down her face again. "We can't just leave Alexi to join Hijinx!" She turned to Nova Prime. "What if she's been brainwashed or something? Like mind control? What if she's in trouble and is being held hostage?"
"Without information to confirm it we can't think anything." Nova Prime said sadly. "I know how much you want Alexi to still be good and to still be working with us, but you need to face the facts. She's joined Hjinx and his team, and there's nothing we can do about it."
Courtney shook her head violently as sobs came harder out of her. "No!" She shouted. "Alexi can't just up and leave us! She wouldn't!" Harmony grabbed Courtney and shook her slightly.
"Get a hold of yourself Courtney. Freaking out isn't going to do any good at this point." Harmony said calmly. Courtney took deep heavy breaths but it wasn't working. Suddenly her whole body started to convulse and Harmony jumped backwards.
"Courtney!" Harmony shouted as Peter held her back. Dey and Nova Prime called for a doctor as Courtney's eyes rolled in her head and foam started forming on her lips. Her arms and legs were flailing wildly and her torso was shaking and thrashing. Muffled cries came from her mouth but then turned to gurgles as more foam formed.
The doctor came rushing in. "She's having a seizure." He grabbed a needle full of fluid to give Courtney a shot.
Another doctor ran in. "Wait, don't give her that!" He yelled.
"Why not?" Harmony asked as the other doctor froze. "If Courtney doesn't get that medication this seizure could kill her! Her immune system isn't built to withstand stuff like this!"
"If we give her the medication the chemicals inside could attack her immune system since she's not Xandarian." The doctor with the needle explained. He set it down and stepped away from Courtney's convulsing form. "This could be a fatal shot."
Peter held Harmony tighter as she tried to lunge for the needle. "Don't Harmony." He whispered. "Courtney needs to ride this one out."
"You don't understand." Harmony said as her eyes filled with tears. "I can't lose both of my best friends." She looked at Peter. "They're my only family."
"I understand Harmony, believe me." Peter said back as he tried to keep her attention away from Courtney's convulsions. "But right now, Courtney doesn't have a better option."
Courtney's seizure lasted at least 2 minutes with slight pauses in between spazzes. Afterwards her body slowly calmed down and soon she was still again. Monitors were hooked up to her body and oxygen was being pumped into her lungs. Medication flowed into her muscles and joints to strengthen them after the horrendous shaking. Harmony just stared as her only other friend was hooked up to every machine available to prepare for the worst. Courtney still hadn't regained consciousness.
Peter stayed in the room with Harmony and Courtney all night. He fell asleep on the chair in the corner, lulled off by the steady beeping of the heart monitor. Gamora shook him awake what felt like 3 minutes later but could've been 3 hours.
"Peter, you need to leave. They'll be fine." Gamora coaxed him.
He yawned. "I'm fine G, I'm fine." Peter slowly closed his eyes and nodded off which prompted Gamora to throw him out of the chair. "Ow!" Peter shouted.
"Shh!" She hissed. "Don't wake Courtney and Harmony." Peter rolled his eyes at her as he pulled himself off the floor and followed Gamora out to the hallway.
"I'm worried about them both Gamora." He said once they were out of the room. "Courtney hasn't improved at all and Harmony's going downhill mentally. Do you really think they're fit to fight the other elementals? Much less save the universe?"
Gamora put her hand on Peter's shoulder. "Peter, they are both warriors. They'll get through this just like they got through everything else that's been thrown at them. Just like the Guardians have gotten through everything life has thrown at us. We stayed together and fought as a family, and they will too." Gamora glanced back through the doorway to the girls who were both resting. "We just need to believe in them a little more. That was our problem with Alexi. She didn't think anyone believed in her."
"Well not that many people did." Peter interrupted. "She kept proving that all she could do was be destructive so people stopped believing that she could change." Gamora nodded.
"We all screwed up with Alexi." She looked Peter in the eyes, hers were filled with determination. "We can't let Courtney and Harmony down anymore than we already have. Understand?"
Peter nodded. "Of course." The two held each others gazes for a few more seconds, their closeness filling the silence around them with a comfortable calm. Just as Peter realized that now would be the perfect time to kiss Gamora a loud siren sounded. The two jumped apart at the noise and looked around to see what was going on.
"Courtney." Gamora said suddenly. Inside the room Courtney's heart monitor had stopped beeping its rhythmic beeping. Instead a long drawn out sound filled the room and the line on the screen was flat and dead. It was a scene Peter knew too well. Courtney's heart had stopped.
"No, no, no, no!" Harmony screamed as she woke up. Peter and Gamora rushed in and grabbed Harmony as she lunged for Courtney. "No! She can't die!" Harmony wailed.
"Let the doctors save her." Gamora whispered to Harmony as a group of doctors and nurses rushed in to save Courtney. Rocket, Drax, Groot, Dey, and Nova Prime all appeared in the doorway to watch.
The doctors started doing CPR on Courtney, trying to get her to breath. Once the defibrillator was ready they applied it to Courtney's chest. Nothing happened. "Again!" Someone shouted. Again they shocked her but still nothing happened. Her heart monitor was still flat and her body still limp. "Again!" The third try a small beep was heard as her heart weakly started up again. A new oxygen mask was put over her mouth for breath and a tray of tools were brought over. "We need to keep her heart going. Her body can't do it on its own." Someone said. Everything was a whirl as Peter watched them slit Courtney's chest open and put wires and machines inside to keep her alive. Harmony had gone silent but tears were flowing down her face like a waterfall.
"Please don't let her die." Harmony whispered to no one in particular. Peter hugged Harmony closer as she started sobbing harder. After a few tense moments of impromptu surgery the doctors stepped away from Courtney. Her heart was working with the help of machines and air was being pumped into her lungs from an oxygen tank. Courtney was officially in a coma.
"Normally I'd say she'll be fine soon," The doctor said to Nova Prime. "But with her brain cancer the odds of her waking up are greatly decreased. I think the only way she'll make it out of this is if we cure her."
Peter stood up. "Then lets cure her!" He said enthusiastically. "Earth has been doing cancer research since when I was young. They must have made progress by now!"
Nova Prime shook her head. "You know we can't just show up on Terra asking for medicine. Plus, if Terrans had a way to cure cancer do you really think Courtney would still have it?" Peter paused as he realized Nova Prime had a point.
"I think I have an idea." Gamora spoke up. Everyone turned to her. "The Sovereign. They're a species full of strict rules and genetically perfect creatures. They live in isolation and their beliefs are that the lives of their own will never be put to harm. They hold intergalactic batteries capable of powering an Infinity Gauntlet. Not to mention they are expert pilots and doctors. If anyone would know how to cure Courtney it's them."
Dey stared at Gamora in disbelief. "You want us to be endowed to the Sovereign? They are nutjobs who think that terrorism is okay as long as it's not their people on the front lines!" He looked at Peter. "They'll never give you what you want until you give them something crazy in return."
Harmony looked up at Peter. "Please Quill. Please don't let Courtney die."
Peter and Gamora shared a look of agreement with each other and nodded. Peter faced Nova Prime and Dey. "Well we're the Guardians of the Galaxy. Crazy is what we do."
Nova Prime sighed. "Fine Guardians. I'll give you one shot to do this. Don't screw up, and don't let us down."
"Thank you Nova Prime." Gamora said. She turned to Groot, Drax, and Rocket. "Are you three going to help us?"
"I'd be honored to." Drax stated.
"It's not like I have anything better to do." Rocket shrugged.
"I am Groot!" Groot exclaimed from Rocket's shoulder.
"I'm in too." Harmony said. "I'm healthy enough to leave, and I'm going to help Courtney." Harmony turned to her friend's sleeping form. "I'll save you Courtney. I promise."
"We leave for the Sovereign tomorrow morning." Peter said. He turned to Harmony. "Rest up." She nodded and the Guardians, Dey, and Nova Prime left the Infirmary.
"Time to suit up everyone." Rocket called. "I have a feeling we're in for an adventure."
That's it everybody! End of Book 2! I can't believe we finally made it this far, it's insane. Anyway, I'll have a preview of Book 3 soon. It will incorporate Vol 2 in. As you just read the Sovereign are involved and so will Ego, Mantis, and the Ravagers! So stay tuned for Elemental Girls Book 3 - Life Of Tsunami