Yondu ran the small crown through his fingers, examining every jewel and intricate design. "Kraglin, how are we doing with that escape plan?"

All around him, alarms wailed, and red lights flashed, Kraglin cursing loudly.

"Not brilliantly!"

It was true that the authorities had taken offence to their past actions, but was there any reason for all this kerfuffle?

"Type in the coordinates for the most obscure planet the computer can find!" Yondu ordered, "We'll meet up with the others when we're back on schedule."

"Understood."

…..….

"Where the hell are we?"

Kraglin shrugged, as he tapped at the compass, wincing as the engine let out a pained whine. "Systems are down Captain… I have no idea where we are."

Thrown from their ship, the pair had ended up in a clearing that had a tower in the middle.

"Come on." Yondu grabbed Kraglin's hand and pulled him towards the tower, whistling for his arrow and letting it carry them up to the open window, as they climbed inside…. Only to be met with a pair of frying pans to the face.

With a loud BANG, they both fell to the ground unconscious.

…..

Peter stared down at the two aliens, him and Mantis clutching frying pans in his hands. Cautiously, he poked at the blue one, just to make sure that he was really out of it, before doing the same to the other one.

"Who are they?" Mantis whispered, yelping when one of the men opened their eyes, prompting her to hit him again, knocking him out again.

"… maybe we should ask them instead of knocking them out." Peter glanced around, "Come on, help me get them into that closet. Ego will be back soon."

They only just managed to drag them to the closet in question, shoving them into it and using a chair to barricade the door.

"Alright." Peter whispered, "We've got two men in our closet… two man who smell like they've had better days. Nothing to panic about."

And then he spotted the jewelled crown on the ground, clearly having been dropped by the two men.

"Hey Mantis…" He grabbed the crown and placed it on his head, "… what do you think?"

Mantis nodded shyly, transfixed by the way the light glittered off the jewels.

"PETER!"

Cursing under his breath, Peter rushed to hide the crown in a pot, watching as Mantis went to hide before turning to the window, just as Ego made his way up.

"I think I'll make some soup for you." Ego stepped into the home, "Don't say I never do anything for you."

Peter just nodded, staying quiet as his Dad went to prepare the food.

"Anything you want for your birthday."

"… No."

"Fine." Ego turned to his son, "I have a meeting I need to attend. I should be back in three days. I trust you can handle yourselves until then?"

Peter just nodded.

Of course, he would.

He was going to be free soon.

….…

Once he was sure that Ego was far enough away, Peter dragged the men from the closet and tied them to chairs, back to back, waiting for them to wake up.

Which seemed to be taking forever.

"Mantis…" he hissed, "… try and wake them."

Mantis nodded shyly, placing her hands on the men's foreheads.

"Wake up!"

…

Yondu shot awake with a yelp, hearing a similar noise behind him.

"Kraglin?" He tried to turn and see if his partner was alright, only to realise that he was tied to a chair.

"Struggling is pointless!"

The new, unfamiliar voice seemed to be coming from the shadows.

"We're not afraid of- "

Yondu rolled his eyes, letting out a sharp whistle as the young voice yelped in fear, diving to the floor as Yondu's arrow shot over his head, before slicing through the ropes that held them captive.

"Alright kid." Yondu stretched his hands over his head, "Apparently this tower is a little more occupied than we first thought, but that don't give you no reason to attack us like that!" He glanced around, "Now… where's our property? Specifically, a crown."

"I hid it! Somewhere you'll never find it."

Yondu glanced around the small room, before smirking, "Let me guess… that pot?"

Judging by the awkward silence, he was right…. And then he felt the hand on the back of his back.

"Sleep."

…..

When they next woke up, they were tied back up and judging by the rattling in a nearby box when he whistled, his arrow was out of reach.

"Alright!" The young man began, "Now, I've hidden it where you'll never find it." He started to circle the pair, "Now, what do you want?"

"… What?" Yondu frowned, "We just want to get out of this system!"

"Out of the system?" The young man paused, "Fancy taking on a passenger… or two?"

"A passenger?" Yondu pushed down the urge to chuckle, "Why should we?"

The young man stepped into the light, before holding up his leg, revealing a chain around his ankle. "We just want to get out of here." He sighed, "My Mother's waiting for me, I just know it. All I need, is for you two to take me back to Earth."

"Earth? Why would you want to go to that backwater planet?"

There was silence for a moment, before the young man sighed. "My Mother's still out there… looking for me, I-I need to get back to her."

Yondu was about to say something, only for Kraglin to reach out and grab his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

Kraglin always did have a soft spot for strays.

"Alright…." He rolled his eyes, "… Let me get this straight. We take you home and you give his OUR hard-won prize?"

"Promise!"

"… Then we have a deal." Yondu sighed, "But if you want to be free, you're going to have to let my arrow go."

"And you won't just kill me?"

"We had a deal didn't we?"

As soon as the arrow broke through his chain, the young man shot to his feet and whooped, "Freedom!"

"Shut up brat."