After retrieving the Milano, we had flown it out of the prison. Now we were waiting for Quill, in space, where it seemed there was no possibility he could reach us.

Rocket had noticed that problem too. He shouted, "Well how's he gonna get to us?!"

"He declined to share that information with me." Gamora said.

"Well, screw this then! I ain't waiting around for some humie with a death wish."

"Rocket," I started in calm voice, "He has the orb. We can't leave without him."

Rocket let out an exasperated groan. "Yeah there's that, but if we don't leave now we'll probably get blown to bits! I personally, like the way I look."

"No! We're not leaving without the orb." Gamora made clear.

I strained my ears. Listening for any sign that signaled Quill wasn't betraying us. I didn't know why I'd tried, I already knew I couldn't hear past the boundaries of the Milano. Space was...a darkness, void of sound. It was both beautiful and terrifying.

"Behold!" Drax exclaimed, grabbing our attention. What I saw next made me smirk; and that was Quill zooming towards us from the Klyn.

Quill soon climbed out of the hatch, officially boarding the ship.

As Drax helped Quill up he said, "This one shows spirit. He shall make a keen ally in the battle against Ronan." That is, if he doesn't get himself killed first. "Companion, what were you retrieving?"

I watched interested, as Quill pulled out a box showing it to Drax. He no longer thought so highly of Quill as he said, "You're an imbecile."

"Why would you risk your life for a box?" I asked.

Quill looked at me, offended. "That is not a box. It's a cassette tape." Seeing as how the blatant confusion hadn't left my face–nor the others–he elaborated, "It plays music." He looked at me more than the others with expectancy. When my blank expression didn't change, Quill said, "Seriously what's your deal! You don't know Star Wars, cassette tapes, it's like you didn't even grow up on Earth." My eyes moved away, he'd hit a nerve.

With Quill's strange tastes, he probably knew it was a shot in the dark to say that. But when I averted my gaze, his mouth drifted open in realization. "Ohhh, so you didn't–"

"Hey Quill." Rocket's voice cut him off. "Shut up."

Quill held up his hands in a 'no harm' gesture. Then his lips curved into a smirk, "But you did say you'd tell me how your powers work."

"Oh how about I show you?" I questioned, stalking towards him. Quill stumbled backwards and hit his head on a wall, wincing from the sudden pain. An arm reached out hitting me in my chest. I looked sideways to see Groot standing there, his lips curled downwards almost in disapproval.

"I am Groot." It took me a second to–or attempt to–translate it. Rocket had easily learned Groot's simplistic yet complicated language, and on our free time he tried to teach me how to understand him. As of now, I barely could.

What I could make out was that Groot was scolding me. I sighed, taking a step back. Apologetically, I looked at Groot and said, "I'm sorry."

"Hey! You should be apologizing to me!" Quill called out.

"It is not her fault you get intimidated easily." Gamora said.

"I do not get intimidated ea–" Gamora stomped in his direction, causing Quill to jump. She looked satisfied then headed to the cockpit.

"You said you wouldn't threaten to kill him if he came back with the orb." Rocket reminded me, but from the looks of it he didn't mind that I did it again at all. He found it rather amusing.

I glanced down at him then shrugged. "Some things can't be helped."

I was sitting on a stool, playing with a gadget I'd picked up on some planet. It was compelling to look at, especially when bored, as I was now. It was spherical and seemed to display numerous galaxies from different quadrants* inside. To change the galaxy, all you'd have to do was shake it.

Rocket was nearby, fiddling with some objects. He'd told me earlier that since 'this humie doesn't have any good explosives, I might as well make them myself.' It was peaceful, until a certain someone showed up.

Quill came into the room, and upon seeing what Rocket was doing he said, "Woah woah woah! Woah! Yo Ranger Rick! What are you doing?" He was irritated, I noticed. "You can't take apart my ship without asking me!" Quill stopped in front of Rocket's finished products, and tried to pick one of them up.

Rocket responded with a harsh, "Don't touch that!"

Sudden understanding dawned upon Quill and he asked, "Is that a bomb?"

"Yup."

"And you leave it lying around?"

"I was gonna put it in the box."

"What's a box gonna do?"

"Stop idiots like you from grabbing it on a whim." I supplied. Quill shot me an annoyed look while Rocket laughed.

"What about this one?" Rocket asked as he opened a drawer, but found it not empty. Instead he pulled out a small box, wrapped in colorful paper tied in a blue bow.

Quill's eyes widened in alarm. "No! Whoa, hey!" He kicked the drawer back closed and said afterwards, "Leave it alone."

"Why? What is it?" Rocket asked with curiosity.

"Shut up."

My eyes snapped up to glare at Quill's back. I thought of yelling at him. But since we're stuck together until the orb could be sold, it would be for the best not to put any more strain on our relationship–if that's what you'd call it.

"What is that?" Quill asked, nodding to another object lying on the floor.

"That's for if things get really hardcore. Or if you wanna blow up moons."

Gamora was quick to say, "No one's blowing up moons."

"It'd be interesting though." I mumbled, and gave my gadget another shake.

We were all gathered around a table.

"So listen," Quill began, addressing Gamora. "I'm gonna need your buyer's coordinates."

"We're heading in the right direction. For now." I narrowed my eyes. Why hide the location of her buyer if we were all going to get there eventually?

Quill seemed to be along the lines of what I was thinking as he said, "If we're gonna work together, you might try trusting me a little bit."

Gamora responded with, "And how much do you trust me?"

"I'd trust you a lot more if you told me what this was." Quill said as he held the orb up. I eyed the silver ball. I had to admit, even I shared that burning need to know why that object was so special. "Because I'm guessing, it's some kind of weapon." He set the orb down on a table.

"I don't know what it is."

Drax picked the orb up and said, "If it's a weapon, we should use it against Ronan."

"We don't even know what it is." I said, making it sound like that would be a bad idea–which it would be.

"But if she told us–" Quill said and pointed at Gamora, implying she was lying.

Gamora's brows drew together in annoyance. "I already said I don't know what it is. And you–put it down before you destroy us all."

At her words, Drax leaned across the table shouting, "Or just you, murderess!"

The situation began to escalate as Gamora stalked around to face Drax and spat back, "I let you live once, princess!"

"I am not a princess!"

"Hey!" Quill cut in. "Nobody is killing anybody on my ship! We're stuck together until we get the money."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." I praised him. That was practically just what I was thinking earlier. Although coming from me it probably sounded sarcastic, which explained the weird look I got from him.

Drax threw the orb back at Quill then announced. "I have no interest in money." After, he walked off to some other part of the ship.

"Great. That means more money for the four of us." Quill said, but he'd forgot one. Groot huffed, making himself known. "Five of us. Partners."

"We have an agreement, but I would never be partners with the likes of you." Gamora said.

"An agreement, not a partnership." I restated Gamora's words, affirming that I didn't agree with him classifying us all as 'partners' either.

"I'll tell the buyer we're on our way. And Quill, your ship is filthy." Gamora spoke then left the room.

After her departure, Quill looked towards Rocket and I with a smirk. "Oh she has no idea. If I had a black light, the place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting."

I rolled my eyes.

"You got issues, Quill." Rocket told him, although I don't think the words would ever get through to his brain.

A/n *I'm not sure if there's multiple quadrants in GOTG, I'm just thinking it of a name to classify different galaxies/large sections of space. Pretty sure I've heard that term being used before but if not that's what I meant.