With everyone transfixed on Drax and Ronan, Cora knew it was her opportunity to run, yet she was not at all familiar with the planet of Knowhere and knew she did not know where she was to hide. Nevertheless, she broke into a sprint, just as Drax began his attack on Ronan. Jasper noticed her in the corner of his eye and instantly fired a shot at her, narrowly missing her but making her yelp in fright. Quick orders to his crew flew out of his mouth before he quickly pursued her, oblivious to Rocket and Groot on his tail him from behind.

Jasper, being the fastest of the two, caught up to her and tackled her to the ground. She wriggled as much as she could, grunting in her efforts as he pinned her arms to the ground.

"Jasper! I don't want to hurt you. Let's just talk – you and me. Listen to me, please!"

"Then why did you fire at me in the bar?!" He spat, tightening his grip on her arms, causing a quiet cry of pain from Cora.

"If I wanted to kill you I wouldn't have changed the bloody settings! I don't want a scene, please let go of me and we can talk."

"I know where your loyalties lie, Cora." He snarled.

She was about to retaliate until he let go of one arm and lowered his blaster towards her heaving chest. With her free hand, she tried to swipe for it, but he twisted her other arm to make her use the other to hold it, as she cried out once again. With his vacant hand, he pried her wrists together and squeezed onto them tightly so she couldn't break free. She squirmed all she could but to no avail, until Jasper cocked his gun and she froze, her lip quivering. She struggled to breathe, the sound of the gun stealing the breath from her and due to Jasper's knee digging into her stomach. She feared the absolute worst, using her watery eyes to plead with him to spare her and listen to what she had to say.

In one quick motion, he began to pull the trigger until wooden branches snared his hand and jolted it upwards to cause the shot to misfire. Cora screamed at the sound but realised quickly it missed when she spotted the work of Groot, as the figure towered behind Jasper.

"I am Groot!" The creature roared.

"Get the hell out of here, Starling." Rocket warned from the side, loading his over-sized blaster. "Or we'll give it to ya."

Jasper attempted to smack the branches off his arm, forgetting about Cora momentarily. She knew this was her chance to escape, yet the guilt of landing a hit on him filled her stomach, despite the life or death situation she was in. Reminding herself that Jasper was serious in killing her and that this was not the first attempt, she looked reluctantly at her hand, curled it up, then swung at him with the punch landing on his cheek.

The force of it pushed him off of her as Groot let go of him, he then picked up the blaster he dropped and crushed it with his hand. Jasper lay on his side on the dirt as he clasped his cheek and Cora scrambled to her feet. She looked down on him with a wounded expression and lowered her head. Rocket noticed the boy sit up and whirred up his blaster, changing the settings of it and fired, electrocuting him, making Jasper hiss in pain and writhe.

"We need to get going, girlie. This way!" Rocket gestured and began to run ahead.

Cora followed along with Groot behind her. The animal lead them to three mining pods that Peter and Gamora began to board.

"Cora, you and I can just about squeeze in. Stick with me." Rocket commanded as she wordlessly crawled into the pod. "Groot, you're too big so you're staying here for now, buddy."

Rocket went to crawl into the pod until he heard Groot trying to get in.

"I told you, you can't fit! Now, wait here. We'll be back."

Rocket then pushed a button to shut the door as Cora leant back in the seat with what little room she had and folded her arms. Rocket stood on her legs and took control of the pod and began to take off, steering it and briefly looking over to her.

"This is the quietest you've been. It takes a lot to shut you up."

"The Jasper I knew… he's totally gone." She lamented.

"Yeah, you knocked it out of him." He snickered.

"It's not funny. I never wanted to hurt him."

"The boy put a frickin' blaster to you, what more do you need to realise he's beyond reasoning with? If it were me, I would have nailed him right between the eyes and have it over with."

"But you didn't."

"Because you would have kicked off if I did."

Cora fell silent and looked out at the windscreen in front of them as Rocket continued to steer.

"It's not my issue, I was just trying to save your ass, not fight your battles. Say 'Thank you, Rocket.'"

"I appreciate the help." Cora looked at him with a solemn expression. "I just didn't want to solve his anger towards me with violence. I need him to just talk things out so we can listen to each other."

"What with Ronan and Yondu a few feet away? You certainly pick your times!"

"He tackled me to the ground what else was I supposed to do? I genuinely thought I was a goner; I had to try and say things to get him to listen! Have you ever been in a situation where you thought what you were going to say to someone would be the last thing you could tell them?"

"Don't try change the subject."

"I bet you have – What about the person you mentioned in the bar?"

"What person?"

"You said something about losing someone who gave a shit abo-"

"Don't you dare finish that goddamn sentence!" Rocket snarled.

"Why?"

"You're lucky this pod is too small for me to blow you up into smithereens."

"You wanted gratitude for saving my arse and now you want to attack me?!"

"Not unless you shut up and never mention that again!"

"What happened, Rocket?"

"Don't keep asking!"

"No, Rocket; what happened to you?"

The raccoon fell silent and became still. Cora stared at him with furrowed eyebrows, wanting an answer, prepared to listen and learn, but all Rocket would give her was a half-hearted shrug, until beeping occurred from the control panel.

"What's wrong?" She queried.

"There's ships following us." He grumbled.

Static interrupted the conversation until a voice came through cleanly.

"Rocket, do you copy?" Quill spoke through the communication system.

"Whaddya want?"

"We have company, keep them off Gamora until she gets to the Milano."

"How? We've got no weaponry on these things."

"These pods are industrial grade, they're nearly indestructible."

"Not against necroblasts, they're not."

"That's not what I'm saying."

Rocket paused briefly, mulling over Peter's words until it clicked in his brain.

"Oh!"

"Are we having a game of bumper cars?" Cora spoke sitting up slightly.

"I don't know what that is, but hold on tight – and don't throw up on me!"

"No promises."

Rocket groaned steered the pod to the two ships he detected and collided into them with great force and Cora grabbed the edges of the seat for dear life.

"On your left!" She warned as Rocket seamlessly dodged the shot and crashed into the offending ship.

"Do you see any other ships?" Rocket asked as his eyes darted to and fro areas of the windscreen.

"Not that I see, just – wait, what is he doing?" She spoke as she leant forward in a sudden movement.

"Hey, there's no room in here!" Rocket protested, almost squished against the windscreen and she leant back.

"W-wha-why did he leave his pod?" She frowned.

"Seems like he's trying to take out the ships by taking one for himself."

"Why are those ships going after Gamora? Are they… Ronan's people?"

"You might be onto something."

"Let's find out."

Rocket propelled the pod forwards to follow Peter, Gamora and the ships.

A flash of fire stopped the pod that Rocket and Cora vacated in its tracks. The explosion spread itself widely across the windscreen as the two watched in shock. They were not alone in this as Peter had come to a stop and watched on. Once the smoke and fire swept away, it revealed an unconscious Gamora drifting in the atmosphere. Cora's mouth parted in a silent gasp.

"Quill, come on. Her body mods should keep her alive for a couple more minutes, but there's nothing we can do for her. These pods aren't meant to be out here. In a second, we're gonna end up like her." Rocket spoke.

Peter kept watching on and Rocket sighed, gripping the controls.

"There has to be something we can do." Cora spoke quietly.

Rocket simply shook his head and began turning the pod away.

"Aw, damn it!" Peter exclaimed, barely audible to the duo.

"Quill?" Rocket spoke turning the pod back around.

They witnessed Peter punch a couple of buttons on his control panel and pause for a while until he began to speak:

"Yondu? Yondu! This is Quill!"

"Peter, don't do this!" Cora cried.

"My coordinates are two-two-seven-K-three-two-four."

"Quill, what are you doing?" Rocket asked with a concerned frown on his face.

Nevertheless, he continued his transmission: "Just outside Knowhere, come get me. I'm all yours."

"Quill! Peter! You need to stop – this won't help anyone!" Cora pleaded.

Peter continued to turn a blind eye from them and put on his mask and exiting his pod, propelling himself across towards Gamora.

"Don't be ridiculous, Quill! Get back into your pod! You can't fit two people in there; Cora and I barely fit as it is!"

Peter held onto Gamora and took off his mask and Cora instantly leant forward in desperation.

"You'll die in seconds! Quill!" Rocket yelled.

"Peter! Listen to us!" Cora screeched, pounding on the glass.

"Don't do that, Cora! You'll get us killed too!" Rocket scolded, grabbing her hand and moving it away, noticing Yondu's ship approaching and beginning to turn the pod once again.

"We can't leave!" Cora spoke exasperatedly.

"He chose his own demise – don't feel guilty about it." Rocket argued as he brought the pod back towards Knowhere.

"God… why?" Cora muttered to herself. "Why?!"

She kicked the underneath of the control panel in frustration.

"Spare the pod until we land, alright?" Rocket warned.

"I just- Why? Why would he put himself into deep shit?"

"He's dealing with it now, just be thankful it wasn't us."

"We should have helped!"

"And what; left Groot behind on Knowhere to try figure it out on his own? He wouldn't last minutes!"

Cora pursed her lips shut and folded her arms. Rocket made a triumphant hum as he landed the pod.

"You know I'm right, now quit being so angry, you're giving me a run for my money."

Rocket crawled off of her lap and she followed him out of the pod, standing on her feet and surveying the area for any danger. Instead, she found Drax, looking worse for wear on the ground, with Groot by his side.

"Blasted idiot." Rocket growled as he paced. "Quill just got himself captured!" He then stopped to turn to Drax. "None of this wouldn't have happened if you didn't try to single-handedly take on a frickin' army!"

Drax tensed up whilst Cora watched on with folded arms across her chest.

"Oh boo-hoo-hoo; 'my wife and child are dead!'"

Groot gasped at his words and Cora shook his head at him in disappointment.

"Oh, I don't care if it's mean! Everybody's got dead people! That's no excuse to get everybody else killed along the way! Ronan has the stone!"

"Pack it in! We can't change the situation now so there's no use in pointing fingers and making it personal; we just have to sort this shit out or we're fucked!" Cora yelled at the raccoon.

"The only chance we got is to get to the other side of the universe as fast as we can and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to live full lives before that whack-job ever gets there." Rocket shouted in return.

Groot stood onto his feet and made eye contact with the animal.

"I am Groot."

"Save the? How?" He quizzed.

"I am Groot."

"I know they're the only friends that we ever had, but there's an army of Ravagers around them and there's only three of us!"

At that moment, Drax pulled himself up and stepped forward as everyone locked eyes on him.

"Four."

Rocket let out a noise of anger and began kicking a mound of grass in an attempt to simmer his frustration.

"Aw! You're making me beat up grass!"

"Drax, just cooperate with us alright? That's all we ask." Cora asked.

"I shall try my best, red-haired Terran."

She nodded in response and walked a few steps and turned back to the group.

"Then let's get cracking, Jasper's still around so we need to get a move on."