"Peter! Wait!" Gamora called, chasing Peter down one of the ship's many hallways.

"No!"

"You're being ridiculous."

"I know what you're going to say, and the answer is no."

"You have no idea what I'm going to say."

"Of course I do, because you already said it, when we had this exact same conversation back on that planet where you convinced me to get in that ship with Ego-, darn." Peter had walked himself into a dead end. With a sigh he turned to face Gamora.

"And I was right, wasn't I?"

"No! You weren't right! He turned out to be a psycho that wanted to kill me and apparently he wasn't even my father, so I went through it all for nothing."

"But I said if he was evil, we'd kill him, and we did. So I consider that a success."

"That is a very weird definition of success," snapped Peter, crossing his arms.

"Look, you went with Ego because you wanted to know your father, and isn't it good that it wasn't really him? And now you have your father, your real father, and maybe he's not going to try to kill us all. Wouldn't that be a better?"

"If this guy even is my father, I mean you gotta admit, two guys claiming to be my dad in as many days. It's kind of a coincidence."

"It would be if Yondu hadn't apparently brought this man and confirmed it himself that he's your father."

"I don't care! You were right, I've found my family, and I don't need more."

Gamora rolled her eyes. "We were in the middle of a fight Peter. And I was frustrated because I thought there was something wrong with that place. But just because you've found your family doesn't mean there's not room for more. I've found my family too. With you." There was a pause and then she hurried on to add: "And the others. My point is, I have a family here, but Nebula is my sister. And I have room for her too."

"The insane lady who tried to kill you about five times now."

"Your point being?"

"Nothing. Just checking we were talking about the same Nebula."

Gamora took a step closer to him. "Don't you think you should at least talk to him Peter?"

"No."

"Not even to find out why he left your mother?"

There was a long, poignant silence.

Loki stood on the bridge and stared out the window into space and the stars. He wanted to go find Peter but he was also afraid to. He had known fear in the past but he had seldom allowed it to control him. But here he was, afraid to face his son. He wished Thor was there to hit him over the head and call him an idiot.

He heard footsteps behind him and Nebula came up beside him.

"So," she said, "Quill is your son."

"So, you tried to kill your sister."

Nebula shrugged. "Yes. But I think we're good now. You and your brother?"

Loki shrugged. "Same. Tried it. Didn't work out and I think I'm done. It got a bit old."

"Agreed. Now I will try to kill my father."

"Done that. Wasn't as satisfying as I would have thought."

She glanced at him. "You killed your father?"

"One of them. Then I tried to wipe out his entire race."

She gave him a levelled stare, studying him. "Perhaps you would like to join me in killing Thanos. He wronged you as well."

"If you go after Thanos, you will die. You know that as well as I do."

She turned away from him. "Suit yourself."

"The Nine Realms, if I am not much mistaken, are preparing to fight him when the time comes. There are heroes there, who together, may, I pray, stand a chance against him, united. You won't, alone or with me."

"We shall see." She began to walk away.

"It's why you're doing it, isn't it?"

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him, questioningly.

"You hope it will kill you," he continued. "I understand that. You know that I do. You found me in the void when I was at my lowest: when I had chosen death. But at least I was honest about it. I knew when I let go and fell into the void that I was falling to my death. If you're going to fall to yours, you might as well admit it."

Nebula glared at him.

"Wow. If looks could kill, you'd be a goner right about now," said a voice behind them. Loki turned. It was Rocket. The raccoon walked over to the controls, plopped down and started fiddling. "Right, setting a course for the nearest bar. Let's go!" Nebula stalked out of the room. "What's eating her?"

Loki shrugged and took a seat. "Any number of things, most likely."

Rocket snorted. "Just yesterday she was selling me over to the Ravagers and now she's hanging around the ship. It's a funny world. Next thing you know Gamora's going to want her to be a Guardian."

"A what?"

"A Guardian! Of the Galaxy! That's who we are you know. We saved this galaxy! With Ego, we've upped our count to twice."

"Peter did this?"

"Well, yeah he was part of it. But we all did it. I did the most. But yeah, we're heroes. You should stop by Xandar. They've even put up a statue of us there!"

Loki smiled a little wistfully. "Peter's a hero huh? I guess he takes after his uncle then."

"Why? Is his uncle an egotistical, lying, mischievous crook?"

"No. That would be a better description for me."

Rocket gave an evil grin. "Then he takes after you."