Chapter 16.
This is the sixteenth chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
Mark stood up on his hind paws behind Rocket and Quill and Baby Groot. He could hear the sounds of the fighters chasing after the ship behind them as Rocket switched on a torch. The hole they made had only gone partially through the metal, branching out into dozens of small tunnels. "The metal's too thick. For the bomb to work, we'd actually need to place it on Ego's core. And our fat buts ain't gonna fit though those tiny holes." Rocket said, shining the torch around. "Well…" Mark heard Quill say before he saw him turn his head towards, facing Baby Groot, who was stroking a leaf on his right arm. "Oh no." Mark muttered, as he and Rocket also looked at Baby Groot. That's a terrible idea." Rocket said, looking up at Quill. "Which is the only kind of idea we have left." Quill said back, before Rocket groaned and picked up Baby Groot. "That's twice in one day we've had to rely on him." Mark muttered, as he followed Rocket towards one of the larger holes. "Unbelievable "Rocket, do this. Rocket, do that."" Rocket said, in a slightly high-pitched voice, which made Mark almost laugh, but he also felt sorry for him. "What a day." Mark heard Quill sigh before he sat behind Rocket on his right, who sat down, setting Baby Groot in front of him. He then put the bob in between them. "All right, first you flip this switch then this switch. That activates it." Rocket explained, pointing with his left index finger at the right switch, and then the left switch. "Then you push this button, which will give you 5 minutes to get out of there." He added, pointing to the left button. "Now what ever you do, don't push this button, because that will set off them bomb immediately and we'll all be dead." He added, pointing to the right button. "Now, repeat back what I just said." He spoke. "I am Groot." Baby Groot said. "Uh-huh." Rocket said. "I am Groot." Baby Groot added. "That's right." Rocket added, though Mark was praying he wouldn't press the wrong button. "I am Groot." Baby Groot did exactly that, pointing to it. "No! No, that's the button that will kill everyone! Try again." Rocket said in response.
"I am Groot." Baby Groot spoke. "Mn-hmm." Rocket replied "I am Groot." Baby Groot said again. "Uh-huh." Rocket agreed again, while Mark was hoping he'd get it right this time. "I am Groot." Baby Groot said, pointing to the same button, making him groan in annoyance "No! That's exactly what you just said! How is that even possible?! Which button is the button you're supposed to push? Point to it." Rocket cried out. Baby then pointed at the wrong button again! "NOOO!" Mark and Rocket cried in unison, Mark faceplanting with both paws over his eyes. "Hey, you're making him nervous!" They heard Quill say, Mark turned his body slightly left, then his head to see Quill's head through a hole in the metal. "Shut up and get me some tape! Does anybody have any tape out there? I wanna put some tape over the death button." Rocket said, his tone showing his annoyance. "I don't have any tape. Let me check." Quill said before he activated his helmet. Mark turned his head, then body towards Rocket, who stared at him. "Don't look to me. I don't have any pockets." Mark said to him, as if he read his mind. Which he didn't. He and Rocket then stared down towards the bomb and Baby Groot in silence. Mark heard Quill ask all the others if they had tape. When Quill came to Drax, Mark moved his right hand and looked at it as if he was looking at a watch. He didn't have one, but couldn't resist doing the movement. He then heard Quill ask Drax something about Scotch tape, then Mark began tilting his head left to right slightly and opening his mouth, mimicking. "Nobody has any tape!" Quill said as he came back to the hole. Mark and Rocket then turned to look at him again. "Not a single person has tape?" Rocket asked back. "Nope!" Quill answered. "And does that include Nebula? Because I'm pretty sure I didn't hear you ask her, or an answer from her." Mark said, narrowing his eyes. "Yes! You probably misheard." Quill said, though Mark could tell there was hesitation in that answer. "I doubt that, Quill. You can't fool these ears, and they've never failed me. And what about that Mantis girl?" Mark said back, pointing with both his index paw fingers at his big Dog ears. "I asked Yondu and Nebula was sitting next to him. And Mantis is pretty busy keeping Ego asleep." Quill said back. "I knew you were lying!" Rocket said back to him. "You have priceless batteries and an atomic bomb in your bag. If anyone's gonna have tape, it's you!" Quill argued, Mark moving to head to look at Rocket. "You know, he does have a point. You're the one with all the fancy gadgets and equipment. And the only thing you don't have is tape!" Mark spoke. "That's exactly my point! I have to do everything!" Rocket cried at them both. "You are wasting a lot of time here!" Quill yelled back, before he left to fight. Mark and Rocket then looked at where Baby Grot and bomb should be, saw they weren't there, and the both of them looked forwards and saw Baby Groot going into one of the tunnels up ahead. "We're all gonna die." Rocket moaned.
Mark then followed Rocket out of the hole and back to the edge of the tunnel. They both stopped by the edge. Mark looked left to see Rocket looking at him. "Remember that move we worked on?" Rocket asked him, grinning. "No! No, no! You know how much of my energy that uses!" Mark protested. "Well, too bad, cause we may need it." Rocket said before he held out a small device in his right hand. "Fine." Mark signed heavily before he too it with his right paw, and placed it on his aero-rig chest part, Rocket reactivating his aero-rig. They both then jumped from the tunnel, fired their Aero-rigs, seeing that all the Sovereign ships had somehow all been destroyed, and flew down to the ground, where all the others were then assembled in a circle. Mark (on Rocket's left, hovering in the air) felt the moment to be very cool, which lasted until Mantis, who was kneeling on the ground, was hit by something. They all looked at her. "Mantis, look out!" Drax cried. "Bit late for that now, Drax." Mark spoke, as they all saw the ground glow white, then followed by the whole area glowing white almost vine like. "She's just unconscious." Drax spoke as he picked her up. "How long until the bomb goes off?" Quill asked. "In the unlikely event that Groot doesn't kill us all, about 6 minutes." Rocket answered. "That greatly depends on which button he presses." Mark added, remembering how it went in the tunnel. They all then heard cracking sounds, which made them all look up, and saw two large chunks of rock move apart from each other, light coming through the gap. "Kraglin, we need the quadrant for an extraction. T-minus 5 minutes." Yondu spoke into his comms. "Aye, Captain." Mark heard Kraglin answer. "Somebody's gotta be up top when Kraglin arrives. Drax, take Mantis." Quill said, as Mark saw him take off his aero-rig and put it on Drax's back, then it formed around him. "Ah! My nipples!" Drax cried out, as the aero-rig fired, Drax screaming as it lifted him up, which made Mark chuckle a bit.
Then the ground started rumbling, Mark guessed by the sounds and the ay everyone reacted on the ground. Suddenly, some of the rocky ground nearby gave away, including the one which Gamora and Nebula stood on, making them fall downwards. "Gamora!" Quill cried, right before more light blue rocky vines ruptured from the rock, Mark going up a few feet and looking ahead to see large glowing eyes and mouth formed in the rocks up ahead. "Peter!" Ego's voice echoed. Mark then saw a vine heading upwards towards him. He then fired a paw blast from both paws, which broke the vine apart, the rocks falling to the ground. "Come now, Peter. I know this isn't what you want." He heard Ego say. Something inside him told him to go down, so he moved himself down to the ground, as three vines coming towards him from his right. He fired paws blast from right paw at the first one, destroying it, then fired from his left paw at the second, then from the left again at the third one. He heard Ego speak again, but he refused to listen to it, so he could focus on the vines. He then looked behind to see if any vines formed, and saw a very large one heading his way. Turning his body around to face it, he then placed both paws touching each other on his right abdomen, moving them both back slightly over his right body size, then rapidly extended his arms forwards, firing a large paw blast the vine, which then suddenly exploded in a large red explosion. A moment after that, four vines then suddenly ruptured around him. He then fired his aero-rig, moved up into the air by a couple a couple of feet, then stopped, allowing the vines to catch up, which they did. "Okay. Here we go." He exhaled. He was going to do that move Rocket had told him to go. He then pressed the device of his aero-rig chest, which created a yellow shield around his body. The vines then touched the shield and then began rolling it around, making him think of a Hamster ball. Within the shield, he was thrown around as it was rolled, moving all around it. He then clenched his paw fingers into fists and closed his eyes. Straining, he then made his whole-body blast red, destroying the vines. He fell to the ground, landing on all fours panting, his shirt, belt, and aero-rig completely unaffected.
He panted as he felt slightly drained of energy, when suddenly a vine hit him, and threw him down on the ground, landing on his stomach with a groan. "Soon, Peter, we will be all there is. So stop pissing me off!" He heard Ego say. He got up on his hind paws slowly, shook it off and fired paws blasts from both paws at a vine right in front of him. He then turned around, but as soon as he finished, he was struck in the chest by a vine, which made him fall on his back on the ground. He yelled out as the vine then made rocks move all over his body, trapping him. "I told you, I don't want to do this alone. You cannot deny the purpose the universe has bestowed upon you. It doesn't need to be like this, Peter. Why are you destroying our chance? Stop pretending you aren't what you are. One in billions. Trillions. Even more. What greater meaning can life possible have to offer?" Mark heard Ego say to Quill as the rocks formed all over his dog face, he gasped a gulp of air as the rocks covered his muzzle, then his eyes, which he then closed. "I don't use my head to fly the arrow, boy! I use my Heart!" He heard Yondu say through the rocks. Mark held his breath as long as he could, though it was slowly running out. Suddenly the rocks covering him, gave away, freeing his body. In that instant, he moved his upper body upwards and took a huge gasp of air, then did a few more pants, catching his breath. He looked leftwards and saw Rocket fly up towards the metal core. Dusting himself off, Mark got up on his feet, his fur and shirt were covered in brown dust, but his aero-rig was still functional, so he fired it up, flew a foot or two into the air and flew towards Yondu, noticing Rocket ahead of him with Baby Groot, meaning he had set up the bomb right. "Good job, little guy. You actually did the right thing." Mark thought in his head as they came up to Yondu.
"Yondu, we're about to blow!" Rocket cried as he and Mark stopped and hovered in front of him. "Get to the ship!" Yondu cried back. "Not without Quill!" Rocket said, which made Mark glad that Rocket didn't want to leave any of them behind. "Nor you!" Mark added, not sure why, but he didn't want to leave without him either. "You need to take care of the twig!" Yondu said to Rocket, pointing at Baby Groot. "Not without you!" Rocket said, Mark sensing some emotion in his voice. "I ain't done nothin' right my whole damn life rats. You need to give me this." Yondu said. And for once, Mark didn't mind being incorrectly called. He could also tell from Yondu's tone of voice that he was planning on doing something, and that was the ultimate sacrifice. He saw Rocket pulled out with both hands two things from his pocket. "A space suit and an aero-rig. I only have one of each." He said before he gave them to Yondu, who took them. Mark moved a foot backwards as Rocket turned to leave but looked again at Yondu. "I am Groot." Baby Groot said. "What's that?" Yondu asked. "He says "Welcome to the frickin Guardians of the Galaxy." Only he didn't use "frickin"." Rocke answered, which made Mark smile. He then did a two fingered salute with his right hand, before he turned around and then flew upwards. "Bye, twig." He heard Yondu say. "We're gonna need to have a real discussion about your language." Rocket spoke to Baby Groot, which made Mark chuckle. He followed his friend up through the gap, and flew towards the landed quadrant, landing on his hind paws in front of Gamora, who was kneeling by Mantis, who was on the floor still unconscious. "Where's Peter? Rocket, where is he? Rocket. Mark. Guys, look at me! Where is he!?" Gamora asked frantically, Mark closing his eyes. He'd never felt so upset before. Mark opened his eyes and faced her solemnly. "He…he stayed behind to distract Ego." Mark said sadly. "No. I'm not leaving without him." She said as she got on her feet and picked up a gun. She took a step forwards before she fell to the ground. Mark looked to see Rocket holding his gun. "I'm sorry. I can only afford to lose one friend today." Rocket said sadly. "Same for me. Kraglin, get us out of here!" Mark then cried, his dog head facing upwards as he gave the order. He then turned around to see the hatch close up as the quadrant took off. He drowned out the sounds of Drax asking where was Quill, hoping that at least one of his two friends down there would make it.
That's the sixteenth chapter done. And it's one of the longest I've done for this story so far. Little fact, the part where Rocket uses the shield and explosives against Ego's vines is one of my favourite bits of the movie, and where I kind of got the idea for what Mark did. By the way, earlier this week, on Friday 28th of May 2021, around 6;35PM, I had my second Covid jab! Hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will be out soon.