Rocket had fabricated a gun built around a Terran audio amplification device called a boombox. Because of the name, he had been severely disappointed upon learning that the only thing it could explode was someone's eardrums. Similarly, the armament merely shot sound waves. The cyborg had wanted to make it an actual destructive weapon, but that risked either it being too heavy (which it nearly was already) or reducing the sound output. He dubbed it the Boomgun. It was far from his best weapon name, but it was the best he could come up with for this glorified speaker in the shape of a gun. Admiring his own handiwork, the extensive modifications had mostly been to reinforce the shoddy Terran materials of the boombox to the point that it could withstand use.
Groot and Drax were in the common area with him while he put the finishing touches on the gun. He grunted as he heaved the literally-heavy heavy weapon off of the table.
"It that a weapon I can wield?" Drax offered, pausing from sharpening his knives.
"No way in hell. You as much as touch this thing the wrong way and we all go deaf." The raccoon took solace in the fact that it was still quite dangerous, if not in the ordinary way. "Just cover me so I can actually use this, alright?"
Drax had that perplexed expression he wore so often. "With what? A blanket?"
Gamora walked into the room with an uncertain look on her face. "Will this work? Do you have a backup plan?"
"I got a Plan B, but it's a last-resort, worst-case-scenario thing. If this don't work and we're still alive, we get to Thanos' ship and figure out how he did this to Quill, steal whatever or whoever did it and try to reverse it that way." Rocket turned to his best friend. "Anyway, Groot, you're staying on the ship."
"I am Groot!" He pouted.
"What does that have to do with anything? That was totally different. It's too risky." Well, Rocket's not staying on the ship when ordered to during the doppelganger fiasco was not much different at all, but he wouldn't hear it. Groot had lived through the Xandar incident to grow again, but would that work more than once? Rocket knew he had been acting like an over-protective mother, but that would only be until the tree was back to being big.
Yondu had sent his Ravagers to get a lock on Quill's location. They found him easily on Planet Craggo, which didn't seem like a planet Thanos would have much interest in. It was a desert planet, though not completely without water. There were many outposts and small settlements in the wasteland, but most of the cities were around and on the planet's single sea. The Ravagers were there, fighting Thanos' army of Chitauri, leaving the Guardians to save Quill.
That was not the only way in which the Centaurian helped. He had given Rocket a questionable 'miracle cure' that Kraglin swore by, teasing that it would either fix the raccoon's foot or the elixir would cause it to fall off. It tasted awful to the point of nearly inducing vomiting, but it really was working, no need for the cane anymore.
Dry heat enveloped them as they emerged from the Milano. The setting twin suns, one yellow and one blue, cast an eerie green glow against the orange clay. They were in the center of a vast canyon. The headphones and walkman hung around Rocket's neck, in case Quill needed a visual stimuli rather than audio in order to get his real memories back. His feet pads burned on the cracked ground.
Something felt wrong. The raccoon was filled with a sense of dread, like the terror he felt when he saw what the infinity stone really was. His sense of self-preservation kicked in, every part of him was screaming to run as far away as possible. But he couldn't. Much like then, this was partly their fault. They had to get Quill back at any cost. He couldn't bear the thought of not having the stupid Terran around, never seeing that goofy smile or having his dumb plans to poke holes in. Peter was an idiot to be sure, but he was their idiot.
There was Quill, not doing anything, just standing and looking out at the desolate landscape. He turned around and faced them. Rocket noticed the thin silver lines on the man's arms, they looked like the lines on Gamora's face. He shuddered. Peter had gone through what he and Gamora had, being forcibly turned into a cyborg. "What...did Thanos do to you?" The raccoon asked in spite of himself.
"He made me better." Quill outstretched his arm, palm up, as if wanting them to grab his hand. "Guys, let's go home." His face was determined and grim.
Gamora shook her head. "That is not home, Peter. It never was."
Rocket hit the play button on the side of the Boomgun, equipped with Awesome Mix Vol. 1. A drumbeat beckoned the guitar licks the group had become all too familiar with.
The Eternal glared at the raccoon intensely. "Come and Get Your Love, Redbone, 1974. Give me back my mixtape!" He flew towards Rocket, who kept his distance, flying with the thrusters on his back.
"Keep him away from Rocket!" Gamora ordered Drax as she attacked Quill.
Drax grabbed Peter from behind into a hug-like hold. Quill wriggled his arm free, and aimed his palm at the tattooed man's face. The maniac let go and dodged right as a beam of red energy rushed from Peter's hand. When the lasers shot, his eyes glowed a bright red.
It reminded Rocket of Yondu. "Whoa! Why didn't anyone tell us he can shoot lasers from his freaking hands now?"
"You did not ask." Drax recovered and rushed towards Quill.
Peter flew out of their reach and continued to chase the raccoon. "You stole my mixtape, ship, walkman, headphones, boombox, and even the thrusters from my boots. You were always nothing but a thieving rodent." Quill had never called him a rodent or vermin before. Rocket was used to it, but not from his friends. It hurt more than it should have. He reminded himself that this wasn't really Peter. There was no way that the Terran really felt that way. But a flicker of doubt lingered in the raccoon's mind. "Wait, I can fly, why did I even have jet boots?"
In Quill's confusion, Rocket aimed the Boomgun and pulled the trigger, sending powerful soundwaves at him. The half-Eternal put a hand to his head and his eyes softened for a moment, but quickly returned to animosity.
"It's not working!" Rocket pulled at his fur. He was beginning to get frantic, desperate.
"What if we dance?" Drax was completely serious.
"I do not dance," Gamora stated between dodging Quill's blasts.
"Me neither." Rocket and Peter were flying around in a circle.
"Singing?" The tatooed man suggested.
The raccoon pulled out an artificial gravity bomb and tossed it towards Quill. Unfortunately, he misjudged the distance and grounded himself too. "Oof!" Rocket muttered as he slammed into the ground.
"Peter, please, stop this!" Gamora pleaded.
The man glared at them. "You abandoned me."
"Snap out of it!" Rocket begged.
"Your memories are false." Drax chimed in.
Quill disarmed the green woman and grabbed her by the throat, holding her a couple of feet above the ground. She struggled, gasping for air. He turned his head to see Drax charging from the other direction, and shot a hand-laser into the maniac's stomach. It sent Drax flying, his eyes were closed when he landed. The man's attention turned to Rocket, and he aimed his free arm, also hitting the raccoon in the stomach.
The impact hurtled him backwards, crashing into the rocks. Looking at the sorry state of himself and his friends, it was over. They were done for. If Quill ever regained his real memories, it would be too late.
As Rocket wearily stood up clutching his stomach, fur caked with clumps of rock particles, the gears in his mind began to turn. He stopped the music and ejected the mixtape from the gun, pulling out a small pistol and pressing the barrel to the precious tape. He was panting. "Let her go, or I will destroy this." Mostly a bluff, but he would if Peter gave him no choice.
Quill's eyes were wide with shock. "You wouldn't dare-wait, of course you-agh."
"Just let her go, and I'll toss away my weapons and give the tape back to you." The raccoon rested his finger on the trigger.
Gamora was released from the hold and dropped to the ground. She rubbed her neck. The mammal knew that if she were fighting anyone other than Quill (save maybe Nebula), her opponent would likely have been dead by now.
Rocket's ears twitched as he heard the airlock of the Milano open with a hiss. The small flora colossus was walking fearlessly right to Peter. "Groot, get back to the ship, now! What are you doing?! He's too dangerous!"
"I am Groot." The tree calmly continued to walk towards Quill, and hugged the man's leg.
Peter smiled. "See, Groot misses me. He's not attacking me and stealing my stuff like you assholes." He didn't appear to notice as the tree's tendrils reached around to each other, gently encircling his legs.
Drax stirred, holding his gut and slowly standing up.
"Groot's right. Group hug time." Since hugging was so out-of-character for Rocket, he knew that they would realize that it was all part of the plan and to follow his (or rather, Groot's) lead.
As the others hugged Quill, the raccoon scrambled up him, placing the headphones over the man's ears and pressing the play button. Peter groaned and clutched his head. His friends caught him as he stumbled forward, collapsing on the ground.
When Quill's eyes opened, he appeared disoriented. His face looked softer. "Guys, what's going on? Where...wait, the last thing I remember was Thanos capturing me..."
They pulled him back into the hug, their Quill was restored. "Peter, he brainwashed you, gave you fake memories. Enhanced you." Gamora spoke slowly, letting him take it all in.
The Terran looked around him and at his companions, He started to panic. "W-what did I do? What was I going to-".
Drax interrupted him. "Do not worry about such things. You were not yourself."
As everyone let go, Quill grabbed Rocket and Gamora in for another tight embrace. "I'm so...sorry. I acted like I knew what you'd been through, but really I didn't understand at all, until now."
"Gamora and I'll help you, figure out how your systems work," Rocket assured Peter as he cursed himself for enjoying these hugs.
The friends let go and stood up.
"It'll be a long time, but I swear, I'll stop that California Rasin-I mean, Thanos, if that's the last thing I do. Who's with me?" Quill put his arm in front of him, palm down.
The first to place their hand atop Peter's was Drax. "Of course, though I would like to land the final blow."
Gamora put her hand in. "As if you needed to ask?" She turned her head to the raccoon and tree. "Rocket, Groot, we understand if taking down Thanos isn't part of your plans. Neither of you have been wronged by him."
Rocket huffed and crossed his arms. "So what? Him messing with you guys ain't enough reason for us to wanna help?"
"I am Groot!" He cheerfully nodded in agreement.
They crouched down so Rocket and Groot could reach their hands, making a pact to stop Thanos once-and-for-all someday.
After Quill was cleared of the crimes he committed while brainwashed, things quickly returned to relative normalcy. Well, normal for being in a group of misfit space vigilantes. The Terran was back to his goofy self. If what happened bothered him, he hid it pretty well. They were all worried about him anyway, particularly Rocket and Gamora. When unable to sleep in the middle of the night, often one of them found Quill at the controls, researching something or other on the datastream.
One day, Rocket was examining the cybernetics in Peter, starting with his arm. A section of skin was peeled back, and the raccoon carefully poked and prodded with tweezers. Awesome Mix Vol. 3 was playing through the Milano's sound system.
The Terran winced. "That hurts!"
"Shaddap ya big baby." Rocket stopped and looked his friend in the eyes. "But seriously Quill, are you doin' okay? You never sleep at night anymore."
"Like you do? I'm fine. I'm the 'new-and-improved Star-Lord' after all." Peter smirked.
That disturbed Rocket. Some people became cyborgs by choice, but usually it was out of necessity for medical reasons. And for the three of them, they had no say in the matter. It wasn't something to be proud of or happy about. They were freaks, some moreso than others. But at least they could be freaks together.
Quill pulled him from his thoughts. "Oh, I took the liberty of adding a song to the playlist, we must've missed it earlier. I'll always hold a special place in my heart for cassette tapes, but I really like that I can just add music whenever I want without having to overwrite something else."
"No fair, you said 2 songs each! If you get to add to it, we all should."
"Shh just listen."
[Human War Machine, TEAM*] I believe in rock and roll, I believe in kicking ass and middle fingers. I believe in slept in clothes and the stale scent of cigarettes sleeping on my pillowcases. I believe in making love, I believe in Bob Dylan. I believe in finding yourself in a smoke-filled room compliments of California.
Rocket wondered if Quill was just bragging about finding a song that fit so well.
We can be something other than machines. We can be human. We can be free.
Gamora walked into the room with a smile. "This song is pleasant."
Rocket tried to hide a grin. "It can stay on the mix."