Chapter 21

"Hey! It's the panda!" Peter jovially shouts when Rocket and their new friend step into the room. Both look at him in confusion.

"What the hell is a panda?" Gesticulating to the other, nearly hitting her in the face, Rocket continues, "It's obvious she's a raccoon."

Peter, after swallowing the large bite of fruit he took grins at him again, "No, you are a raccoon. From earth. On earth, she is what is called a 'red panda' or 'fire fox.'"

There's a silence in the room and Peter feels its' gaze, nervously he continues – "not that it really matters… I guess. You are the only talking one I have ever seen or heard about."

Gamora sighs and shakes her head, "Peter just shut up before you start to sound stupid."

"Too late."

Everyone nearly breaks their necks, turning their attention to the panda next to Rocket. There's one beat of silence before all (except Peter), bark out in laughter for about five minutes.

Rocket starts to come down from his high and grins over at the smaller female, "Yea, you'll be getting along just fine with us, sweetheart."

Gamora and Drax agree happily while Peter grunts, pouting at being the butt of the joke – again.

Looking up at the raccoon, she twitches her snow-white ears and smiles beautifully at him. Then she walks away to the table and climbs up on a seat before reaching for a bread roll.

Rocket finds himself frozen and his face heats up, "Thank the spirits for the furry face." Gamora addresses him, and finally he snaps out of his stupor and looks up at her. She gives him a knowing smile.

"Aw fuck. This is going to get irritating real fast." Grumpily, Rocket stomps towards the table and pulls himself up on a seat across from the red-furred beauty.

He watches her and starts to feel sheepish again at his thoughts. "Aw shit. I guess I can't tease Star-Dork anymore about being sappy. Fuck this is ridiculous."

With an intense, chocolate-brown gaze, Rocket watches her crinkle her nose up at an odd fruit that Drax has insisted she try; turning it over in her small hands, glaring at it like it was some huge trick.

"Damn, she's cute."

Just then she catches him staring at her and tilts her head to the side, narrowing her sapphire eyes suspiciously.

Rocket nearly slams a piece of toast in his face in embarrassment.

She looks away and listens to Drax. Beside him, Peter whispers –

"So not smooth, man."

Tan is about doing his normal chores, idly wondering how Miss Archer was fairing. He hopes she got off of Knowhere all right, and didn't run into much trouble.

Kicking a stone, he continues down a side street, making his way to Jack's place. Honestly, he was a bit nervous. But he had practiced his deception last night during one of his weekly showers. He just hopes he can pull it off in front of Jack and his intimidating crew.

If he's lucky, they won't even ask about her. And if they did, he had already come up with a plan for the tracking device (which was currently hidden at Berk's estate).

Trudging down a familiar tunnel, feet slapping on the damp ground he reminisces about the last time he was down here – he was taking Miss Archer away from those terrible mercs, not expecting to have made a new friend.

Twenty minutes pass and now he's deep within the underground network of tunnels, beginning to approach Jack's 'safe house.' As usual, the sound of drunken laughter, arguing and crashing leaks through the thick, cracked wooden door.

Not even bothering to knock, because he knew they wouldn't hear him, he just opens the door carefully and strolls inside.

He has gone unnoticed so far, so he just looks through the crowd of men and women carefully, looking for their leader. Spotting the large, gruff leader over in one of the corners, chugging ale and looking over data pads, Tan makes his way to him. Carefully avoiding any run-ins with his raucous crew.

"Here are the updates Berk promised, as well as some funds for certain equipment and tools he thinks you will need."

Jack slams down his mug and rips the envelope from the boy's hands. "Right. He wants all this shit done by tomorrow night now. Switching shit on us like that. Crazy fucking bastard." Glaring at the boy, he rips a pen from his pocket and jots down a note, nearly shoving it in Tan's face.

"Take this to yer damn boss. Tell 'im it'll be done. But I'm not gunna pay every one of my freelancers outta my cut. He's gunna hafta help."

Nodding, Tan waits patiently until he is dismissed. Only unfortunately, he's not.

"So how's our little pet bitch? She servin' your master well or what? What does he 'av her doin' anyways?"

"I do not know M-Mr. Jack. I am just his errand-boy."

"Surly you 'ave heard something?"

Taking a breath in he hesitates, "He is keeping her around to go through certain things. Mostly background checks on the other servants."

Well, that was partially true. Holding his breath he waits for Jack's response. "Ha! Suspecting his own, eh? Wouldn't be surprised. He's a right bastard that one. Knows too fucking much. But he pays well. Only reason he's still standing as far as I see it by my books."

He nods.

"Now get outta 'ere, kid. Go."

Tan didn't need to be told twice.

What he didn't notice, however, was the spying blue giant in the corner. Watching them intently beneath his thick hood.

"We'll be stopping at the G-56 Alpha asteroid in about an hour."

Fluffy white ears perk up, and her red face snaps towards the direction of the green-skinned woman, Gamora. Peter leans in the doorway, shooting a look at Gamora behind her back.

"And yes, Peter – we are stopping there."

"But I was almost arrested last time! I'm not allowed to set foot on that place, and you know it!" Peter squawked, making the fire-fox giggle under her breath before focusing back on her arrows.

"Then stay on the ship."

"But that's boring!"

"Yea, seeing Star-Dork get chased around the rock again would be very not boring! Why'd you have to tell him where we were landing?" Rocket scoffs, shooting a mischievous glance towards her, making her blush and fiddle with her arrows while the conversation continues above her.

Gaping for a few seconds, Peter relents. "You guys are all assholes." He huffs before marching out of the cockpit.

Gamora turns around once Peter leaves and faces their furry, red newcomer sitting on the floor against the wall, "So, have you forgiven him yet?"

Realizing she was being spoken to, the archer looks up and smirks, "Well yea, if I had known of his obliviousness beforehand, I wouldn't have thought twice about his previous offenses."

Rocket snickers and Gamora covers her smile with a gloved hand.

Drax pushes into the cramped space, looking concerned, "Friends. Star Lord is currently abusing his head against the dinning table. Has something gone wrong? Does it need fixing?"

"I'm afraid his brain cannot be fixed by any being on this side of the galaxy." The archer mutters under her breath, sending Rocket into a fit of laughter.

Drax looks confused between the other three in the space, landing his gaze on the smiling Gamora, "Is it not the job of Rocket to 'bash' the character of our Star Lord?"

She tries to hide a smile while she watches Gamora smirk and shake her head at Drax – and Rocket fall over, wheezing. Sending a confused look at him, she picks up her things and slowly slips from the room.

"These people are so weird… or crazy… I haven't decided yet." She thinks to herself while trying to find a quieter place to tinker.

An hour later, the crew (minus Peter) plus one, find themselves dropping down from the Milano and into red dirt. Rocket scrunches up his nose at the thinness of the air inside the asteroid station.

"Why does every asteroid base or whatever have to have a weird smell to it?"

Upon hearing no answer, he looks around himself to find that Gamora and Drax were up ahead, and he was alone. Looking behind him, he sees his red-furred companion. He stops and waits for her to catch up, noticing she was looking around absent-mindedly; a funny look on her face.

"Hey."

After not getting her attention, he reaches out and sets a paw on her slim shoulder.

"She needs to eat more."

"Yea, Rocket?"

"You 'kay? All this ain't too much for ya, is it?"

She looks at him in confusion. He struggles to continue, "Uh… cause you know… you've been like… not around… a lot?"

Realizing what he was getting at she shakes her head and continues walking further into the station, "No. I mean, I've been around the galaxy… but I never really got the chance to explore… I was always doing a job, or was told to stay close."

Noticing this was not a subject she was comfortable with, he stutters to change it, "Okay then, well… we have a few hours, did you need anything? Is there anything you've wanted to do?"

She stops and watches him for a second while he internally berates himself.

"Pull your shit together, man. You're Rocket!"

Before he can attempt to regain some 'manliness,' she hesitantly rubs her hands together, watching the people around them nervously.

"I've never… I've never had a drink… before." She mumbles shyly.

Rocket is so happy, he forgets to… oh… I dunno… react?

Seeing the raccoon stare at her with wide eyes, she shuffles her feet and spins around – starting to walk away, "Forget it, let's head to the –"

"No!" Rocket winces, realizing how loud (and desperate) that sounded. But she stops and looks at him… which is something at least.

Making up the four feet of space she had made between them, he continues in his normal, gruff tone, "You havn't lived until you've had these urchins' drinks!" He grins at the smaller animal, confidence returning.

"I'll buy you yer first drink. How's that sound, princess?"

He keeps his bravado, but his heart skips in his furry chest when she returns a small, genuine smile up at him.

"Okay…"

Rocket is on cloud nine the entire way to the bar.

"Gamora, why are we leaving our companions behind? This is not a safe place." Drax inquires monotonously to Gamora, who's looking at various knives and pistols on display at one of the vendor stands.

"They'll be fine. Rocket's what Peter often calls a 'bad-ass,' I'm sure he won't allow himself or his new friend to come to harm."

"Who is this new raccoon anyways? I was not aware we were taking on more passengers?"

Gamora ignores Drax for a moment while she haggles with the dealer.

After she made her purchase, she motions for Drax to follow, "Under normal circumstances, no. But I think this is a special case… don't you agree?"

"Yes. It is quite a positive thing that our friend Rocket has found an equal."

"We are his equals too, Drax. But I know what you mean. Someone he can better relate to. Who knows, maybe they'll fall in love?" Gamora smiles to herself.

Drax gives her a look before stopping, spotting the aforementioned two making their way into one of the guardians' favorite bars on this side of the galaxy.

"It would appear they are attending the hourly drink specials at La-Noda's"

Spinning on her heels, Gamora catches two furry tails enter through the neon-lighted doorway. Smirking, she turns and walks away. Drax reaches out to stop her, "I would like to join in on the festivities as is our custom."

"We'll come back in an hour. I have a few other things I need to shop for first, and I would like your company."

Knowing that his green woman-friend couldn't care less if he accompanied her or not, he follows.

He wanted to talk with her about Star Lord anyhow. Their sexual tension and flirting were deeply unsettling him; and he things that Rocket and Groot would agree with him.

Author's Note:

I am sorry for being a bit late with the past two updates. It's been a bit of a tough two weeks for me. Was sick, so then I fell behind in classes... you know how it is. So I'm playing catch-up. But! I wanted to get things moving, and I'm so excited to be writing these next few chapters, I am squeezing them in while I can!

November will be much better; hopefully.

Anyways... it's not a double update... but the next chapter will be out Wednesday!

Thank you all for the motivation!

(The bar scene will be awesome. ;] look forward to it).

3 Kallen.