Chapter 18

Fathers and Daughters Vol. 1

Yondu had to watch his men that stayed by his side get launched out of airlock with their former teammates mocking those in their final moments. He hadn't felt so weak before in his entire life. No matter how many time people had pleaded, Yondu felt like he could do nothing about it. They took his fin, his arrow, and he had lost his companions and his little girl.

Wherever Peyton was now, Yondu hoped she was safe and protected, far away from the mutiny that had been started. Taserface came back and grasped onto Yondu's ear. Rocket couldn't do anything. he was tied down in a chair just like Yondu and Groot was in a cage.

"You're the one what killed those men by leading them down the wrong path," Taserface sneered. "Because you're weak and stupid! "

Taserface punched Yondu in the face and then in the abdomen. (A/N: grimacing right now as I write this sentence)

"It's time for the Ravagers... to rise once again to glory with a new captain... Taserface!"

All The Ravagers around them began laughing and shouting. Taserface was laughing when he heard Rocket laugh harder than most of them. Everyone (besides Yondu) faced the obviously not a raccoon

As soon as Rocket's laughing calmed down, he remained smiling.

"You're name is Taserface?" Rocket laughed.

"It's metaphorical!" Taserface laughed.

"Yeah!" the Ravagers shouted.

"For what?" Rocket asked curiously.

"For it is a name what strikes fear..." Taserface answered. "into the hearts of anyone what hears it."

Everyone of the Ravagers muttered, definitely sure it wasn't that scary of a name. It was rather quite laughable.

"Okay, okay," Gef said.

"Okay..." Rocket said with a smile. "Whatever you say."

"You shut up." Taserface hissed while holding out his dagger. "You're next."

He turned to Yondu and pointed his dagger at his cheek.

"Udonta, I have waited a long time to do..." he began

The Ravager captain stopped when Rocket was snickering, but turning it into a fake cry.

"What?!" Taserface snapped.

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry!" Rocket answered. "I just keep imagining you waking up in the morning, sir...looking in the mirror and then

in all seriousness saying to yourself..." he said in a gruff tone, "Hey, you know what would be a really kick-ass name?' Taserface!"

Rocket laughed with the Ravagers around them trying not to laugh. In fact, Gef looked like he was going to cry while holding his laughter.

"That's how I hear you in my head!" Rocket continued. "What was your second choice? - Scrotum Hat?"

The Ravagers couldn't hold back their laughter any more. They laughed so hard at their captive, that none of them were expecting Taserface to put his dagger on Rocket's throat.

"New plan. We're killing you first," Taserface sneered.

"Well, dying is certainly better than having to live an entire life as a moronic shitbag who thinks Taserface is a cool name," Rocket said with Taserface's breathing getting heavier.

Meanwhile Nebula, who was watching the hole thing had enough.

"That's enough killing for today." Nebula said.

The Ravagers backed down afraid of her as Nebula got off of her spot in the corner and approached him.

"I thought you were the biggest sadist in the galaxy." Taserface sneered.

"That was when Daddy was paying my bills. The Priestess wants to kill the fox herself. And he has bounties on his head in at least 12 Kree provinces. I assure you I am not as easy a mark as an old man without his magic stick or a talking woodland beast. I want ten percent of the take..."

Taserface glared at her.

"And a couple more things," she added.

"We got a whole box of hands if that one don't work out," Kraglin told Nebula.

He led her to the M-ship she was going to use. Nebula had new clothes, being clad in red leather from head to toe, red boots, and a new robotic hand that the Sovereign had taken from her.

"It is fine," Nebula said as she fixed her hand.

"You think them Kree is gonna execute the captain?"

"The Kree consider themselves merciful. It will be painless."

Kraglin couldn't let this live down in him.

"Well, here it is," Kraglin said, leading her to a full view of the ship.

"It's the best ship we got. Location of Ego's planet in the nav. We'll wire you the 10% once we's paid." He looked at her curiously. "What are you gonna do with your share?"

"As a child, my father would have Gamora and me battle one another in training," Nebula answered, her eyes going soft, as if she wanted to cry. However, she couldn't cry because of her implants.

Thanos took her feelings away along time ago. "Every time my sister prevailed, my father would replace a piece of me with machinery, claiming he wanted me to be her equal. But she won... again and again, and again, never once refraining." The anger for Gamora raged on in Nebula with her blood boiling.

"So after I murder my sister... I will buy a warship with every conceivable instrument of death. I will hunt my father like a dog, and I will tear him apart slowly, piece by piece, until he knows some semblance of the profound and unceasing pain I know every single day."

Kraglin looked at her very terrified. He could sympathize with Nebula just a little bit, but he and Peyton never had that sibling relationship while growing up. He had his eyes wide and his mouth opened.

"Yeah..." Kraglin said. "I was talking about, like, a pretty necklace. Or a nice hat. Something to make the other girls go, he spoke in a shrilly voice, "'Ooh, that's nice!' Anyways, happy trails."

He pat on Nebula's shoulder, and she shook off what was left of Kraglin's hand on her shoulders.

Ego's Planet…

Peyton and her dad were finally alone in the courtyard of Ego's palace.

"My mother told everyone my father was from the stars," Peyton said looking at a statue of her mother in the middle of the courtyard. Ego looked at her confused.

"She had brain cancer, so everyone thought she was delusional."

"Peyton..." Ego began.

"Listen, I'd love to believe all of this, I really would," Peyton answered. "But you left... the most wonderful woman ever... to die alone."

She started walking away but her father turned to her.

"I didn't want to leave your mother, Peyton." Ego cried. "If I don't return regularly to my planet... and the light within it... this form will wither and perish."

"So why didn't you come back? Why did you send Yondu? A criminal, of all people, to come and fetch me?"

"I loved your mother, Peyton! I couldn't stand to set foot on an Earth... where she wasn't living! You can't imagine what that's like!"

"I know exactly what that feels like, dad!" Peyton yelled at the top of her lungs. " I had to watch her die!"

Ego and Peyton looked at each other, silence surrounding them.

"Over the millions and millions of years of my existence, I've made many mistakes, Peyton. But you're not one of them. Please give me the chance to be the father she would want me to be. There's so much that I need to teach you about this planet... and the light within. They are a part of you, Peyton."

"What do you mean?"

"Give me your hands, daughter. Here," ego said. He gently cupped her hands together. "Hold them like that. Now, close your eyes and concentrate. Take your brain to the center of this planet."

She did as she was told but opened her eyes to see blue light come from her hands.

"Yes!"

"Whoa!" Peyton gasped. The light disappeared.

"Yes! It's okay. Just relax. Concentrate. You can do it. Bring it back"

Peyton closed her eyes and felt the blue light come back. However instead of falling back, the light came back

" Yes! Yes, now shape it." Peyton began shaping her molecule. "Feel that energy." She smiled as she formed a ball.

"Yes. You're home. Peyton..."

Peyton threw the ball to her father. He shaped it to be more of a ball and threw it at her. Peyton grabbed it and began throwing the ball with her dad, like she always dreamed it.

Drax and Mantis sat on the steps of Ego's palace. The man looked at the young woman wondering what her story was.

"How did you get to this weird, dumb planet?"

"Ego found me in my larva state. Orphaned on my homeworld. He raised me by hand, and kept me as his own."

"So you're a pet?" Drax asked her.

"I suppose." Mantis said sadly.

"People usually want cute pets. Why would Ego want such a hideous one?" Mantis looked at Drax sadly.

"I am hideous?"

"You are horrifying to look at. Yes."

Mantis' face faltered and Drax simply told her gently, "But that's a good thing. When you're ugly, and someone loves you... you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust."

"Well, then I'm certainly grateful to be ugly." Mantis said. Memories of Drax's young daughter entered his minds and his reminder of how he and Kamaria both went down to bond by the lakes of their homeworld. He looked at the pools in front of them.

"Those pools, they remind me of a time when I took my daughter to the forgotten lakes of my homeworld," Drax said, remembering her very warm smile. "She was like you."

"Disgusting?" Mantis said with a smile.

"Innocent."

Mantis reached out to know what Drax was feeling. Suddenly, Mantis began...crying. He was mourning for that little girl Drax could feel. While Mantis was crying, Drax remained completely calm. She had changed her mood. Mantis truly felt like she already knew him. She took her hand of Drax's shoulder, and remained silent for a moment.

"Drax," Mantis said to the man. He looked down at her. "There's something I must tell you."

Suddenly, the doors opened. Mantis stopped herself from looking at Gamora. She looked in between Drax and Mantis, both friends looking at Gamora.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"This gross bug lady is my new friend." said Drax, gesturing to Mantis.

"I'm learning many things, like I'm a pet and ugly," Mantis said with a smile.

You're not ugly," Gamora said shaking her head. She looked at Drax to reprimand him. "Drax!"

"What are you talking about?" Drax said. Gamora ignored him and looked at Mantis.

"Mantis..." Gamora said. "Can you show us where we'll be staying?"

Mantis led Drax and Gamora to their guest quarters. Gamora was getting more suspicious as they stayed there longer. There was just something very different about Ego. She didn't have this problem with Yondu when she first met him. In fact, Yondu tried to kill her with the Yaka Arrow in order to teach Peyton a lesson. However, with Yondu, Gamora learned through this entire time she knew Yondu would never hurt Peyton, but with Ego...she just wasn't sure.

"Why are there no other beings on this planet?" Gamora asked Mantis.

"The planet is Ego." Mantis said. "A dog would not invite a flea to live on his back."

"And you're not a flea?"

"I'm a flea with a purpose. I help him sleep."

Gamora stopped Mantis from going any further and asked her, "What were you about to say to Drax before I walked out?"

Mantis' eyes faltered away from Drax.

"Nothing." Mantis said. "Your quarters are this way."

Gamora looked at Drax, and both of them could agree that Mantis was indeed hiding something. Both of them turned to follow Mantis to their quarters.

Rocket and Yondu were thrown onto the ground of the cargo hold by their Ravager captors. The cell doors were closed with Taserface grinning sadistically.

"We deliver you to the Kree in the morning," Taserface said. "Neither one of you will last much longer after that."

Rocket walked up to the doors of the cells while their captors walked away.

"Okay, Taserface. Hey, tell the other guys we said... 'Hi,' Taserface!"

Taserface rolled his eyes holding back his cool. The trio of Ravagers walked away.

"What about this little plant? Can I smash it with a rock?

"No, Gef. It's too adorable to kill, Taserface said. "Take it to the tailor."

Rocket turned to Yondu, who was leaning up against the wall.

"No offense, but your employees are a bunch of jerks," Rocket said.

"I was a Kree battle slave for 20 years when Stakar freed me," Yondu began, remembering like it was yesterday. "He offered me a place with the Ravagers. He said all I needed to do was adhere to the code. But I was young... and greedy, and stupid. Like you stealing those batteries."

" That was mostly Drax," Rocket said.

"Me and Stakar and the other captains... we weren't so different from you and your friends. The only family I ever had. When I broke the code... they exiled me. This is what I deserve."

"Slow down, drama queen. You might deserve this, but I don't. We gotta get outta here."

"Where's Peyton?"

"She went off with her other old man," said Rocket.

"Ego?"

"Yeah. It's a day for dumbass names."

Yondu smiled showing his yellow teeth. Rocket gave a mock one.

"You're smiling. And for a second, I got a warm feeling," Rocket said. "But then it was ruined by those disgusting-ass teeth."

Yondu's smile disappeared. He gave Rocket a glare.

"You like a professional asshole or what?" Yondu asked.

"Pretty much a pro. Why didn't you deliver Quill to Ego like you promised?"

"Cause, she was an innocent child, and she became my little girl two weeks within her stay aboard this ship."

"That ain't what she told me. She told me it was because she was skinny. Couldn't get into places you couldn't get. Good for thieving."

"My little girl doesn't know the full story. That's what I told her, rat. It was the only way to keep her safe. I'm thinking she's in more trouble than you think she is. Can't keep Peyton around her father for too long."

Rockets eyes immediately went cold.

"Yes, but first, we got to get out of here!" Rocket said, suddenly worried over his friends. No way in hell would he let someone hurt his friends, especially someone like Peyton. Ever!

"I've got a plan, but we're gonna need your little friend."

A/N: This chapter has been updated with scenes I forgot to add while writing this chapter. In fact, this has to be the longest chapter in this entire story. Also I plan on doing a series of one-shots, or missing moments that I didn't add in this story. It will be called Hooked on a Feeling: The Missing Moments

Special Thanks for supporting this fiction and helping with mistakes: warlocktoungue ; I-AM-THE-LOVE-MONKEY;

samanthatm;

blueorchid7 ;

anissa;

swim5433;

madsterford5;

Arwen the Storyteller;

Sparda