"Okay! Let's do this!" shouts Rocket excitedly. The others furrow their eyebrows at his tone, but the Quill-girl knowingly grins to herself. "Okay! Quill! Man the ship! The rest of you, with me!" Rocket then scoops up Groot onto his shoulder. He claps loudly. "Let's get this show on the road!" jogging off.
Out of sight, Peter and Gamora are awfully confused. Then, Peter turns to Petra suspiciously. "What did you do?" he asks. She laughs out at his reaction, walking away as well. "Hey!" he yells after her, but she's gone. "She just ignored me!" he complains to Gamora.
The Zen-Whoberi pats his shoulder with an amused smirk. "Come on, captain," she tells, following after the red-head.
Peter stands still for a minute. "Captain?" he utters, perplexed, an expression that quickly transforms to a content smirk. Were things finally moving forward between them?
Wow! Family crisis can really bring a lot out of people.
"Okay, G. Me and…Red," he turns to her, smirking for unknown causes that only she picked up, a smile seemingly permanently plastered on her face by his presence, especially after the confession, that Gamora was non-the-wiser about, but was close to figuring it out, "made you something."
Rocket picks up a sword from the table behind, also in the lower deck. He hands it to her. She holds the sturdy hilt, brushing her fingers past its long, sharp blade, with space in between for extra damage. She smirks.
"That's not all," says Petra, approaching her friend. Gamora raises the sword to her sight as the Quill eyes around for a button, and Rocket just stands there, checking Petra out from top to bottom.
After clicking the button, Petra steps back as Gamora's eyes widen, along with Groot's, as the sword's blade lights up in electric spark.
"I am Groot. (Awesoooooome!)"
"Got something for you too, little guy," Rocket retorts, turning and placing Groot on the table as Petra rushes excitedly to get it.
The Quill-girl walks back and Gamora follows, deactivating her new weapon. "Close your eyes," she tells Groot. He grins and does as told. Petra hands Rocket the thing.
"Now open em," Rocket tells.
Groot looks to see a mini-crossbow! in Rocket's palm. "Ta da!"
"Your first weapon! Yay!" tells Petra as Gamora laughs out happily.
"I am Groot. (Oh my god! Yes! Yes! Yes!)" the littles one shouts, going to snatch it from Rocket's hand.
"Ah!" he raises a finger. "I'll show you how it works first," he tells.
As he does so, Petra and Gamora fall behind. The Zen-Whoberi turns to the red-head knowingly. "So, what happened?" she asks. They speak in whispers, even though Rocket could still hear them, but they didn't know that.
Petra turns to her with that same smile. She giggles. "I'll tell you later," she says, playfully pushing Gamora's shoulder with hers.
She had no idea how much Gamora cherished these girlfriend moments.
In a secret military base, underneath the grounds of Xander, they hid
the Shadow Clan.
"AGAAGHAGAGA!...
hh…
hh…
hh…
ha…
haha…
hahahaha…that tickles!"
Drax laughs out at his supposed interrogator.
Oh, it hurt. But the stubborn Destroyer refused to show. He was chained to a metal chair with arms, the man across him electrocuting him with a taser like it would make a difference.
When they'd informed Rod that they'd knocked out one of the Guardians, he told them to bring him in for questioning.
However, what he was hoping for-no-counting on, was that the rest would follow.
And when he'd have the Guardians in his grasp, where they were ready, and in number,
he would take them down,
for good.
Not business, personal.
"I won't ask again! Where was your entrance?!" the man yells irritably.
He was attempting to get a clean on Nova's security improvements and placements, since the Guardians had been inside the new HQ, welcomed and hosted after the events with Ronan, till they were back on their feet, it was only fit to ask them.
Unfortunately, they got the stone-headed one.
"Okay. I will tell you," Drax says, face down. The man's eyes widen in hope, and slight shock. "We went through," Drax stops and looks into the man eyes intensely, "a door," he says.
"Which door?" the man asks.
…
"The FRONT DOOR! AAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"
Wrathfully, the man tazes him again, getting the same reaction. He asks a different question. "How many guards were inside?"
"A hundred! A THOUSAND!"
"How many cameras did you see?!"
"A MILLION! AHAHAAHA!"
Back on the Milano, the others climb to the Navigation deck, where Peter was setting course for Xander, having contacted them and informed them of their arrival.
"What took you guys so long?" asks Peter.
"We were gone for five minutes!" exclaims Petra irritably.
"Hey, Quill. We got you something," Rocket tells, handing him a blaster. "Higher blast-force. More shots. Better charge. And it looks awesome," he explains as Peter observes it lovingly, wiring it up and watching cool little red lights light up in small squares on the side of it.
"Nice!" he says. "Looks like we're doing some damage!"
"Hell yeah!"
"We're closing in. You give em a call?" asks Gamora.
"Yeah. All set," he says.
"Okay, out of my seat," Petra tells, pushing him up.
"Hey!" he utters as he stumbles off and Rocket chuckles in amusement. "What are you laughing at?!"
"Nothing, man!"
"…Is Groot holding a crossbow?!"
"Yep!" says Petra from the seat.
"I am Groot. (Imma kick asss!)"
"I'm sorry. I don't see you scheduled for an appointment," says the receptionist in Nova HQ.
As Peter took care of getting them in, the other four stood a few feet aside. But it was taking a while, and they were getting impatient.
Drax's life could be at stake, and they were losing precious time.
"Well, could you please give miss Prime a call," Peter says tiredly and sarcastically.
"I am not authorized to make personal calls with miss Rael-"
"What is taking so long?" asks Gamora, stood with the others.
"The lady's playing dumb, or is dumb," replies Rocket, wearing a look of concentration on his face.
"Can…can you hear them?" asks Petra.
"Mhmm," he replies, eyeing Peter and the lady intently.
"The increase in your size must have increased your sense of sound as well," states Gamora, impressed.
"Mhmm."
"So like, how far can it reach?" asks Petra curiously.
"Well," Rocket starts, turning to her suddenly, "I can hear how fast your heart's beating right now," he smirks.
Petra's face flushes red, smiling nervously, as Gamora smiled as well, feeling a slight gape inside, a certain emptiness she wished to fill.
"I am Groot. (Can you hear my heart beats?)" asks Groot enthusiastically from a pocket in Rocket's utility belt. Rocket looks down, smiling at him in amusement.
"Yes, Groot. I can hear yours too," he tells.
"This is taking too long," says Gamora.
"Yeah. Time to intervene," replies Rocket.
"Look, ma'am. I don't think you understa-"
"What is…that?" the lady suddenly asks, eyes going wide as Rocket and the others approached them.
"I'm the one who eats the people that refuse us what we want," Rocket grins, making the others smirk.
Rocket then leans in on the counter, causing the frightened woman to take a few steps back. "Now do as the man asks, before I tear you limp from limp," he grins madly.
Petra stares at him from the side, she could feel her insides turn at the sight of him speaking this way, and seeming so threatening. It turned her on. "Ohhh, boy," she uttered to herself.
But he heard, and turned to her, smirking knowingly.
"That won't be necessary, subject 8-"
"Do not…finish that sentence," Petra points furiously at Corpsman Rhomann Dey, causing Rocket to smirk, and the other two to nod in agreement.
Dey raises his hands peacefully, smiling proudly at them. "It's good to see you all again. This way."
Meeting with Nova Prime, the Guardians explained the situation. When the name Shadow Clan was brought up, Irani's face fell pale.
She escorted the Guardians to a secure room for conversing. She then explained that the clan was a rogue nation, Xander's very first policemen, whose commander, a cold man named Victor Rein, was once trusted as determined, and powerful.
But he was also merciless, and almost never satisfied. He sought a greater empire. He sought the throne, he sought power,
he sought too much.
It got to a dangerous point, and the ex-commander and his loyal followers, were defeated, and banished.
They'd been living in the shadows ever since, plotting, planning.
At first, they were small in numbers, short on weaponry and equipment.
Coming across several relics, Victor had an idea.
He would gather relics for money, and keep some for fire power, such as the one in Reveserume. They even kidnapped half a dozen scientists from across the galaxy to keep the relics in check, and operate them.
Their activity was soon noticed by Nova, and Irani had had spies on them ever since.
Just a few days ago, their layer was found, and it was a shocking discovery.
Turns out, they'd never gotten much further than under Xander's surface.
Nova Prime was planning on sending down a team the next day, a hundred men or so, to eliminate all that remained of the clan, and since the Guardians were here,
she'd make it today.