"That bastard didn't put it back!" Quill declared. Clint stiffened and looked over to the guardian as Drax, Rocket and Groot headed off on their path toward the Milano. At his words though, they all paused and looked to him as well. Quill seemed honestly aggrieved at the idea that someone had taken something of his. And Clint understood that. If he had found anything of his missing he'd have been upset as well. Bucky sighed deeply, turning to watch to see what Quill intended to do now.
"Put what back?" Gamora wondered in exasperation. Considering how well this entire escape was going, Bucky was rather just as exasperated with everyone. While their escape seemed to be successful right now, everything was just so... Yeah. Bucky moved a bit closer to Clint.
"They remind me of the Commandos," he grumbled as he pulled his guns out from his storage area. Clint huffed. Outside of his clothes, the archer hadn't really been brought in with anything they could take. He regretted not wearing his uniform pants which he had taken to loading with everything he'd need if trapped in a situation like this before Malekith took him. It was just his luck that he'd been in sweats at the time. All his preparations down the drain cause he wore the wrong pants.
"Just keep the Milano close by," Quill ordered Gamora without actually answering her. Bucky glanced over to him. What the hell was he talking about? "Go."
"Where the hell is he going?" Bucky demanded as Quill rushed off down the hall. He looked to Clint as if the archer would have the answer. Clint shrugged. While Quill had described a bit of how the escape went, he never mentioned anything like this.
"I don't know," Gamora growled. "But he's right. We need to move."
"How long we waiting for him?" Rocket questioned. Clint jumped a bit on his feet, debating which group to go with. It was clear that he figured that Quill would need help. Sighing, Bucky nodded his head toward Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot before spinning and chasing after Quill. Clint pursed his lips. He intended that to go the opposite way. Well, no use in that now. He had to follow the others.
"Son of a bitch," Clint cussed but followed the last demand of his lover and headed off after the others as Gamora led them away. How she knew exactly where to go, Clint wasn't going to question. He just followed and prayed that everyone would stay safe. It didn't take them long to get to where the ships were stationed and once loaded, Rocket looked to Clint. Judging by the raccoon's look, Rocket had been planning on leaving Quill behind. But apparently Bucky's arm mechanics must have meant something as he hesitated.
"Where is-" he started but Clint shook his head. They needed to get free before the ship was locked into the docking bay.
"Get the Milano loose," he snapped. Rocket huffed but turned to the ship and started her up. He hesitated only a moment more before backing out. Once they got out of their little spot, Rocket floated the ship by the door. Getting back into place would take forever and they wouldn't have time. Especially with Quill and Bucky delaying things.
"How are they gonna get to us?" Rocket asked, curiously worried. Clint frowned, thinking. Quill had his little face shield which he knew acted as a helmet. But, Bucky wouldn't have anything. Would it be possible for Bucky to survive? He had been frozen in cryo numerous times. Had fallen from a train. Space shouldn't be too bad. Right?
"Get a little closer and be ready," he told the raccoon. Maybe if Bucky wasn't out there for too long then it would be fine. The closer they where, the faster they could get to him.
"What are you thinking?" Rocket hissed but actually did as told. Drax shifted in his seat a bit and looked out the front. "We can't wait long, you know that. Do we have the Orb?"
"Yes," Gamora replied as she dug into the bag Quill had handed her. Clint arched an eyebrow and looked to her. Did she seriously think that Quill was that stupid? The man had grown up with the Ravagers, a known 'criminal' group. When she came up with nothing, Clint snorted.
"You seriously think he was going to give that and his ship up? The Orb is his security for us staying and waiting for him," Clint chuckled. Gamora growled at him before tossing the bag at him. Clint chuckled a bit more as he caught the item and put it down.
"Behold," Drax suddenly said. Frowning, everyone looked out in the direction Drax was looking.
"Holy shit, Buck," Clint hissed. It was as he had thought. Quill was using his helmet to cover himself but Bucky had nothing on him. The only good thing, Quill had his rockets set at full blast to get the two of them to the Milano. Cussing again, Clint spun and headed toward the access area. He needed to be ready to help the duo inside. A moment later, Quill came round the corner and into the ship, pulling a limp Bucky along.
"He said he'd handle it!" Quill defended when he saw Clint come over. He backed away, holding his hands up as if Clint was going to hit him. But the archer ignored him and instead reached down to grab hold of his lover.
"Buck, come on," Clint encouraged, pressing lightly against the man's neck. As long as he could feel something, Bucky would be okay. He remembered that before, when Steve had still been frozen, he had had a pulse. It was how they knew he had been still alive underneath. Clint waited a moment before sighing in relief. There was still a pulse, faint but slowly coming back. Given Bucky's and Steve's history of being frozen, it had been clear that Bucky's body was best prepared for a trip like this.
"What the hell?" Gamora demanded, looking over the trio even as Clint rested back onto his heels. Quill winced, mistaking Clint's relief for grief. Noticing their concern, Clint gave them a soft smile. From an outside perspective, of course, this would seem highly odd.
"He just needs to warm up and then he'll be fine," Clint soothed as if that explained everything. Which, to him it did. But obviously it wasn't enough for the others. Apparently they were of the belief that Bucky had been out there for too long. For any other person, that was certainly true. But not Bucky.
"Are you frickin kidding me? He just spent like five minutes in space!" Quill shouted, exaggerating a bit but the point still stood. The amount of time that Bucky had spent in space would have killed a normal person, easily. Clint said nothing. He couldn't think up a good way to explain why he wasn't concerned. "Look, I'm sorry he's-"
So, of course, that was the moment that Bucky let out a soft cough, drawing attention to himself as his body began to fix itself. Smiling a bit brighter, Clint leaned closer to his lover and pressed their foreheads together before backing away to see the Sergeant's eyes fluttering open a bit. Bucky was conscious now. "You stupid idiot."
"Hey," Bucky softly greeted, a smile on his face. Laughing, Clint gave him a kiss.
"Uh. I'm sorry but. WHAT THE HECK!?" Quill shouted, frantically waving a hand down at Bucky while looking at the other guardians to see if they knew what the hell was happening. Clint and Bucky broke apart, turning to look at the others. They were all staring at the two of them. "He! You... HOW?"
"I can hold my breath a decent amount of time," Bucky excused with a shrug. Gamora narrowed her eyes. From a young age she had been taught that even if you held your breath, you wouldn't survive the cold of outer space. You had less then a minute to find a way to get shielded until you died and there was no way Bucky had been out there for less then a minute. Thanos had changed her so that she could last, but Bucky was human, not changed to handle space.
"The air in your lungs would have frozen," Gamora hissed. Bucky shrugged again before getting up, making it clear that he wasn't going to answer anymore questions. When Quill and Gamora looked to Clint, the archer just smiled at them. He had no intention of answering either. The less they knew at this point, the better. Especially until Clint was certain that they could be trusted. Right now they were all too new to each other. As if understanding this, Gamora threw her hands in the air.
"What the hell was the detour for anyways?" Rocket called from the front, curious. Quill winced again, suddenly realizing how much worse this could have been if Bucky had been killed. Cautiously, he took out his music device. Clint's smile fell.
"Seriously?" Quill nodded.
"You're an imbecile," Drax tagged on, staring.
"The power is gone," Wanda whispered, sitting up in her seat in surprise. Pietro looked to her. She had mentioned a strange power before. Said it wouldn't involve them yet. Considering she hadn't been concerned, Pietro hadn't paid much attention to her words about it. But now, Wanda seemed concerned with it missing.
"What?" he asked. She pursed her lips, reaching out with her power to see if she could find a reason as to why it suddenly vanished. There was no answer out there. Nothing told her a thing. It was just gone. Blinked away. Be it gone forever or simply out of range for her to feel, Wanda didn't know. All she knew was it was gone.
"I had been sensing something. It had been odd but not threatening. Now, it is gone."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Pietro wondered, shifting a bit. Wanda sighed, nearly biting her lower lip in thought. The power had been stronger than her. But it had called to her. Almost like the calling she had for Pietro. A sibling. It had no good or evil call to it, just a draw that Wanda had ignored.
"I don't know." If something that powerful could just vanish, Wanda feared what could be coming. She looked up to stare at the scientist she had been silently working with. If this plan worked, then maybe the vanishing power wouldn't be as important. She'd think on it later. "I feel we may need some encouragement here."
"What kind?" Pietro questioned, a small smirk on his face as he looked to the man as well. She stepped forward, holding her hands to either side of the man's head, tendrils of red slipping inside. The man stiffened, watching the images that Wanda had sent him. When it was over, he looked back down at his notes. He was almost ready. Just a few more commands...
"Yes," he said as Wanda stepped away. The teen smiled. Even with outside influences changing, things were still going their way.
"Our version of peace will soon be arriving."
"I'm gonna need your buyer's coordinates," Quill informed. Clint perked up. He had thought he had convinced them that selling the Orb was far more dangerous than anything. Bucky glanced to Clint with a frown.
"We're heading in the right direction. For now," Gamora retorted. Clint stood, moving to the map as Quill turned to look at her. While Clint wasn't as space traveled as the rest of the group (outside of Bucky), he had learned enough on the six months traveling with the Guardians the first time round. Bucky shifted in his seat.
"Is four billion units really worth your lives?" the Sergeant wondered. Gamora looked to him. "We've told you the Orb in an Infinity Stone. You know Thanos is looking for them. Unless you intend to sell it to Thanos, which I doubt, I don't understand why you won't listen."
"If it's out of our hands, then all the better," Quill responded even as he grabbed the Orb and began juggling it between his hands. Bucky stiffened, watching it carefully. He wasn't sure how protective the shell around the stone was. Could it break if dropped?
"We still don't even know if you're telling the truth," Rocket pointed out, waving a piece of metal over toward Bucky. "We don't know you. Hell, we don't even really know or trust each other."
"Which is why it's important that we know where the buyer is. Trust-" Quill started to explain as Clint turned to look at them.
"Trust is a two way street. None of us really trust each other. That's fine. But, what we do know is this, Thanos is after the Infinity Stones. Someone out there thinks this Orb is worth four billion units. Both, Bucky and myself say this Orb is an Infinity Stone," the archer listed. Rocket scoffed. "Thanos will be looking for this and I bet you anything, someone who has that much funds would be more than willing to give the Orb over to Thanos."
"And what do you plan to do with the Orb? Who do you think can stop Thanos?" Gamora mocked, crossing her arms over her chest. Clint stood up a bit straighter, indicating himself. After a moment of staring each other down a loud bark of laughter had everyone turn. Drax was laughing and pointing at Clint.
"You?" Drax laughed. Clint pursed his lips as Bucky got to his feet and placed a hand on Clint's shoulder to stop the archer from doing anything stupid. Thankfully, Clint wasn't willing to go and attack Drax just yet. Instead, he just watched the Destroyer laugh. After a moment, Drax seemed to calm but then he looked at Clint again and started laughing again.
"Dude, come on," Quill muttered for the archer as Clint found himself shifting to hold Bucky back from attacking Drax. Frowning deeply now, Clint mentally wondered if he should try and silence Drax. He had used magic before but it had just been a minor protection spell. A silencing spell was a bit more complex and something that Clint wasn't all that certain he'd be able to do with the Aether inside of him.
"As annoying as he is putting it, I agree. What makes you think you can do it?" Gamora wondered with a mere raising of her eyebrow.
"I told you, we did it before," Clint retorted.
"Yeah, but you also said you lost before," Rocket pointed out, waving another piece of metal at the archer. Clint gritted his teeth. Of course Rocket would remember that bit. "So... How can we really trust you? For all we know, you twos gonna take the Orb from us, we drop you off on Terra, or wherever Quill wants to leave ya, and then you'll go off and sell it without us."
"We wouldn't do that," Bucky argued, his lips curling ever so slightly into a snarl. Rocket shrugged his shoulders, giving Bucky a clear dismissal.
"Look, none of us trust each other, really. We get that," Quill called, looking everyone over. "But, we can agree that Thanos wants some stones. Someone is willing to pay four billion units for the Orb. Everything else is..."
"The Orb is the Power Stone!" Clint emphasized again. Quill rolled his eyes.
"So says you," Rocket grumbled. Clint growled lightly before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to calm down.
"Look. Trusting us or not is getting us nowhe... Shit..." Clint started, pausing as he thought about things. Slowly, he looked to the display of the celestial map. "Your buyer is on Knowhere..."
"What?" Gamora asked, stunned. Everyone blinked, looking at Clint as the archer looked back at Gamora.
"Your buyer. Person who is gonna spend four billion units. They're on Knowhere," Clint clarified. Quill, Drax, Groot and Rocket looked to Gamora to see her reaction as Bucky frowned, glancing to Clint.
"'Nowhere?'" he echoed. Clint nodded.
"It's a spaceport made from some alien's head or something. Not many people stay there but the main person I can think of... Well... He isn't really someone we can trust," Clint answered. Bucky's frown deepened.
"The Collector?" Quill questioned. Gamora stood a bit straighter, daring Quill to say anything more about the man.
"Who's 'The Collector?'" Rocket asked, shifting a bit to see everyone a bit better and put down the things he had been messing with.
"Taneleer Tivan. He is a collector of rare and unique items. He keeps them stored in his archive on Knowhere," Gamora informed. "He has amassed great riches and has protective security measures..."
"Yeah, a telepathic dog won't stop Thanos," Clint interrupted.
"Cosmo is not the only line of defense," Gamora retorted harshly. Clint scoffed. He had been to Knowhere enough in the six months time of traveling with the Guardians the first time for him to know that most of Tivan's defenses were broken down or easy to evade. None of it was set up for the type of full frontal assault that Thanos would bring. Most people left Tivan and his collection alone merely because of the oddity of it all. If they learned of some of the more dangerous and powerful items he had, well... There would be little Tivan could have been able to do to stop someone from taking it by force.
"Tivan works for himself, if Thanos finds out he has a stone, he'll come and Tivan would give it up in a heart beat!" Clint cried back, desperate to make her understand before it was too late. Gamora stepped forward, her body stiff and ready for a fight. Clint prepared himself but Bucky cut in between them.
"If Tivan is not safe from Thanos, what makes you think your precious Terra is any better?" Gamora hissed. Clint stepped forward with a small snarl. Bucky shifted again to hold him back.
"We have very powerful friends ready and willing to take Thanos out when he comes," Clint informed.
"I am Groot?" Groot asked. Clint glanced over to the tree, relaxing a bit. Bucky sighed and released him. This was doing them no good if they all kept fighting like this.
"Yes, when. Earth already has a couple of stones," Clint explained.
"And you want us to bring another there? Thanos would collect them all in seconds," Gamora snapped. Clint spun on her. Bucky once again reached out to stop Clint from advancing on her but the archer didn't move forward.
"He can't do anything without the Soul Stone and he can't get that, without you." Gamora jerked back a bit in surprise. Clint winced, closing his eyes with a sigh. The ship went silent as everyone processed what just happened. Bucky was the one who ended up breaking it, staring blandly at Clint.
"Nice," the Sergeant hummed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"What are you talking about?" Gamora questioned, her voice much softer then it had been through this entire discussion. Bucky arched an eyebrow, curious as to how Clint would handle this.
"To get the Soul Stone, you have to sacrifice the one thing you love the most," Clint muttered, his mind flashing to Natasha's saddened face and his scream as she forced him to let go. A small shudder ran up his spine. Bucky pursed his lips even as Quill, Drax and Rocket all turned to stare at Gamora, shocked.
"Thanos only loves himself," Gamora accused though her voice wavered a bit. Thanos had always claimed she was his favorite daughter but did favorite actually mean he loved her? Could that truly be called love? Bucky snorted.
"He did it before, meaning that's a lie," he stated.
"Gamora?" Quill softly inquired as the green skinned woman stepped away, lost in thought. She couldn't believe it. Thanos couldn't love her. He didn't love anyone. It was happenstance that he had grabbed her out of all the people on her planet. There was no way this was real.
"Gamora... I know you know where the stone is," Clint whispered. Gamora shivered as a chill ran up her spine.
"No one knows where the Soul Stone is. It's lost," she argued though her voice had lost much of the bite it had before. Clint sighed.
"Vormir." Gamora couldn't stop herself from snapping her attention over to Clint in shock. The archer refused to look at her. "It's on Vormir. On the tallest cliff edge. A guy is there... Mostly hidden in a gray cloak and shadows that move in an ever changing wind. Nothing else but stones, shadows and darkness. 'In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul for a soul.'"
Bucky reached out to pat Clint's shoulder, hearing the pain in the archer's voice but Clint didn't wait. Instead he simply shook his head and walked off, clearly leaving the rest of the debating up to the Sergeant. Sighing deeply, Bucky looked to Gamora. "Believe us now?"
Been a while... Sorry. I am trying my best to keep up but I just never seem to have the energy.
Darius is doing good. Been spending this week down in Disney World and he's been having a great time. Gigi had even come down with us but left this morning for a flight home. We'll be driving back home tomorrow so this is our last day. He caused some minor trouble with his attitude a few days ago but otherwise he's been pretty much how he is at home. I hope things continue staying good with him. Not really looking forward to the two days of driving home with him but he did good when coming down. We'll see how it goes.