Peter lets out a low whistle as he stares out the window of the government building. He stares out towards the horizon. Thanos' fleet of warships cast the entire world into darkness as they eclipsed the sun. The city around them was desolate. The soldiers killed everything that moved and burned anything that didn't. The corpses were all being piled up in a field out in the forest. Peter could see the mound of bodies begin to rise above the trees. Thanos called it a Monument to Death. Sanctuary II floated over the corpse pile, purple energy flares out of the engines. At this distance, it looked like a ghostly skull with purple glowing eyes looming over the city. "Ugh, talk about tacky," Peter muttered.
Nebula feigns irritation, "I'm beginning to believe that you are physically incapable of going 2 minutes without speaking."
"You know, I'm right." Peter continues as if Nebula had nothing at all. He gestures with his gun at the pile of corpses. "It looks like the skull is gonna eat all those dead guys. It's stupid."
Nebula glances at it from the corner of her eye. "It is a bit of an eyesore." She admits hesitantly.
"Exactly!" Peter continues to wave his gun around as he rants. "And all these dumb ships make it impossible to see anything! Like what's the point? It's overkill!"
"It's a warning to those that would oppose us, and a vast display of power," Nebula replies flatly.
"Okay sure, " Peter scoffs, "But who's going to be impressed by that? No one's going to look at this and think: Wow, Thanos' dick must be huge!"
"Peter! You can't say that!" Nebula snorted despite herself. She wrinkles her nose in an attempt to keep from smiling.
Peter shrugs, "they can cut my tongue out again, it was worth it."
"How do I keep getting stuck with you on missions?" Nebula asks herself while staring down at her hands. "How?"
"Alright, that oughta do it!" Allace chirps through the transmitter.
"Oh thank the stars," Nebula mutters.
Allace talks over her, "The bunker's alarm system is down. Ophid and Miertra are sweeping the first 3 floors, you guys wanna check out the rest?"
"That sounds fair, " Nebula replies. She doesn't wait for a response before turning her transmitter off. They get in the elevator and she punches the button for the sub-basement. The elevator lurches down and Peter's ears pop.
"Oh, and I can't deactivate the–the...here…areful, alright?" The transmission starts to cut out inside the elevator.
"Crap," Peter waves his transmitter around wildly, attempting to get it to work better. "Allace can you repeat that?"
"Peter I… hear you…. Elevator?" Allace replies.
"Allace? Allace?" He elongates her name as he shakes his transmitter. Nebula gets annoyed and takes it away from him. "Hey! That was important! Haven't you ever seen a horror movie before?"
Nebula stuffs Peter's transmitter into her bag and rolls her eyes. "You know that I haven't."
"Allace has some kind of important information but can't share it with us because the technology stops working. We could be walking into a trap! Or there'll be zombies!" He explains with an intensity that Nebula finds concerning.
"Zombies?" She quirks an eyebrow.
"Y'know, undead mindless creatures with a hunger for brains." Peter does his best zombie impression. He reaches out towards, his hands going limp at the wrists and groans. "Brains!"
"Don't touch me." Nebula grabs his arm and throws him into the wall. Peter grins and tackles Nebula. "Peter!" She squeals. They wrestle on the ground. Peter tries to put Nebula in a headlock, but she throws her elbow into his side. Peter lets go of her. Nebula scrambles backward, she kicks Peter in the chest. He grabs her foot and drags her closer.
"Brains!" He sits on top of her. Nebula throws a punch, and Peter blocks it. Neither of them notice the elevator doors slide open.
He sticks out his tongue and dangles a loogie over her. "Peter! Don't you dare!" Nebula shrieks and slams her palm up into his jaw.
Peter bites his tongue. "Ow! Be gentle!" He giggles and smooshes Nebula's face with his hand instead.
Someone coughs. They both turn to look up at the two soldiers staring down at them. "Uh, how did you kids get in here?"
Peter lifts his hand from Nebula's face. He draws his weapon and activates his mask, he giggles again. "Hi!" He puts a round between the eyes of the first soldier. "And Buh-bye!"
The other soldier is momentarily stunned. "What the–"
"You're unbelievable!" Nebula turned slightly purple. She punched Peter hard enough to throw him into the elevator wall. In a fury, she whips her hatchet into the remaining soldier's skull. "I hate you!"
Peter blows a raspberry, "You do not." He stands up and dusts himself off. "You're just throwing a fit cause you're embarrassed."
"I do not throw fits," Nebula glares at Peter as she puts one foot on the corpse's chest and yanks the hatchet out of their skull.
"Sure, " Peter replied flatly. Nebula steps over the corpse and stalks down the hallway. Peter trails after her.
"The sound came from over here!" A group of soldiers round the corner and stop abruptly when they see Nebula and Peter. "It's a couple of kids?"
"Shit, goddamn it. That's the Reaper of Rho. She's here to kill the master!" A different soldier yells.
Peter raised his gun. "Are they just gonna ignore me because you're here? That's so rude! I'm just as dangerous as you are."
"Are you though?" Nebula raises one eyebrow.
The soldiers within arm's reach scramble for cover while the others draw their weapons. Peter opens fire and Nebula lunges at them. She drives her blade through the eye of her enemy as she tackles them to the ground. She quickly guts one soldier before slicing the throat of another. Two soldiers made a break for the exit. They believe that distance will protect them from Nebula's wrath. She throws her hatchet and takes his head clean off. The other remaining guard aims their gun at Nebula. Peter puts two rounds through their head before they can pull the trigger. "Boom! Saved your life!" Peter grins smugly beneath his mask.
"You did not! I had it!" Nebula insisted as she collected her throwing knives.
"Did too!" Peter hums as he reloads his gun. "That makes 5 for me. How many are you at?"
Nebula picks up her hatchet and flicks the blood off of it, she sighs irritably. The door to the stairwell suddenly opens. A soldier screams at the sight of the corpses. They drop their coffee. Peter and Nebula exchange glances before charging them. He trips her when she lunges at the soldier. "Intruders! We have intruders!" The soldier yells into their transmitter as they run down the stairs in a blind panic. Peter puts a bullet through the soldier's knee. They take a tumble down the stairs. Nebula scrambles to her feet and throws her elbow into Peter's back. She slings one of her knives into the soldier's throat. They make a strangled gurgling noise as they collapse on the floor.
"That makes 6," Nebula announced smugly. Peter huffed and stood up. He plucks the transmitter off the corpse and clips it to his belt. He leaves it turned on so he can hear what the enemy is saying about them. The door to the 4th floor is thrown open, and a dozen guns are aimed at Nebula. "About to be 7."
They fight their way through the 4th and 5th floors of the bunker, yelling out their kill count as they go. The enemy does their best to track Nebula's movements but there was no surprising her. They slaughter everyone they meet. Efficiency was prioritized over stealth because Voros was cooking dinner tonight and nobody wanted to be late. Nebula still avoided the security cameras out of habit. They searched every room for the target but there was no sign of them.
As they were finishing up searching the 5th floor, the transmitter on Peter's belt started making noise. "The Reaper of Rho is heading towards the west stairw–no, no, no. There's two of them. I-I–"
Peter rounds the corner and spots the guy hiding in the corner. "Boo!"
The soldier screams, they manage to shoot Peter three times while scrambling backward. His bulletproof vest stops two of the bullets. The third grazes his shoulder, it stings a bit but heals fast enough. "Wh-what the hell? What is wrong with you?!"
"I have four sisters, " Peter replies in deadpan before shooting the soldier in the head.
"Hey, don't blame that on me!" Nebula yells over her shoulder. She cuts down two soldiers with her blade. "You were like this before we adopted you."
Peter brows a raspberry. Someone starts shooting at him and he dives for cover in a panic. He hides in a nearby supply closet. He leans around the corner and takes shots at the remaining soldiers. The transmitter on Peter's belt makes more noise, "No! There in the stairwell moving towards the 5th–Agh!" Two more soldiers back out of the door to the stairwell.
"Mine!" Nebula throws her hatchet at their head. The soldier gasps. Before the blade meets their eye a glowing red chain wraps around their neck. It's hot enough to blacken the skin. The soldier screams as they're yanked back into the stairwell. Childish laughter echoes as the gunshots fade.
"Ophid, hey!" Peter hurries over to meet them.
Ophid coils up their chain, as they exhale the flames in their eyes and on their hair extinguish. Miertra walks down the stairs behind them. He drops his rifle and lets it dangle off his shoulder by the strap. Ophid smiles, "Hey! We already finished searching on the upper floors. We tried to call you but you wouldn't answer."
Peter shoots Nebula a look and she shrugs, "Transmitters are annoying." She shifts her gaze to Ophid, "You stole my kill."
They raised their chin and narrowed their eyes. "I saw 'em first. That makes 47 for me. How many are you at?"
40. "I don't see why that matters." Nebula brushes past Ophid as they make their way down to the last floor. They took the lead while Miertra and Peter walked in the back.
"Peter, do you have any more 45's?" Miertra swayed nervously. "Ophid said to ask."
"Sure, I always bring extra." Peter rifles through his bag and pulls out a spare magazine. He hands it over to Miertra, and they quickly replace the magazine in their rifle. Their jacket shifted slightly. Peter could see the yellow stuffed animal hiding in the inner pocket of Miertra's jacket. Peter bites back a grin, "You brought Ducky with you?" Ophid glances back at them curiously.
Miertra holds his jacket closed, "Shut up! He makes me feel safe."
"I didn't mean it like that, " Peter holds up his hands defensively. "You should keep Ducky inside your bulletproof vest. He'll be safer there."
"Peter used to bring his plastic music box with him on missions, " Nebula comments lightly.
"It's a walkman, " he corrects her quietly.
"I remember that!" Ophid chimes in. "You were so sad the first time it got shot on a mission. Kekallie had to carry you all the way back to the ship, cause you wouldn't stop crying until Allace and I fixed it."
Peter turns pink, "Dude, not cool!"
"I thought it was cute, you loved that old thing so much." Ophid chuckled at the thought. They skip down the steps two at a time. "Why'd'ya stop bringing it on missions?"
"After it was shot, blown up, stabbed, shot again," Peter counts things off on his fingers, "and then stepped on." He shoots a glare in Nebula's direction but she pretends not to notice. "I decided that it would be better if I left it on the ship."
"That's what you get for bringing toys to war, " Nebula replied coldly.
Ophid cringed when Peter inhaled sharply, "That last one wasn't my fault. You wanted to hurt me." Nebula doesn't respond. They make their way down to the 6th floor in silence. When Miertra is certain the others aren't watching he moves Ducky from his coat pocket and tucks it snugly into his bulletproof vest. Only the head of the stuffed animal is peeking out from the collar of his vest, so Ducky could see.
When they step into the hallway there are more soldiers from both sides. Ophid's hair and eyes light up in flames, and the chain in their hands glows red hot. "See if you can keep up, Neb!" Ophid grins as they begin to swing their chain around. It wraps around the neck of their enemy and slams them into the wall.
"You're the one slowing me down!" Nebula slides under the chain to get up close and personal with the soldiers. She draws her blade. Ophid stops spinning their chain long enough for Peter to slip past. The enemy screams and shoots out bullets sporadically. Miertra stayed behind Ophid, they defended their younger sibling from any stray bullets.
Peter takes down two soldiers. A bullet knicks his vest and a blade goes through his shoulder. He turns and takes down two more soldiers. The barrel of a gun presses up against the back of his head. Time seems to slow down as a million different reactions raced through his mind. Nebula's hatchet slices clean through his assailant's arm. She drives her blade into their throat. Nebula picks up her hatchet again, "Boom, saved your life, " She deadpans in her best impression of his American accent.
"Pssh, I had it," Peter cracks a small smile. Ophid snaps the neck of the only remaining soldier. Miertra skirts around the corpses carefully avoiding the puddles of blood and gore. Peter reloads his gun quickly, "I'm at 41!"
"46," Nebula picks up her throwing knives and flicks the blood off her hatchet.
Ophid extinguishes their flames. They grin and coil up their chain, "52."
Miertra groans and stomps their foot, "How can you tell who you're killing? Everything happens so fast!"
"You get an eye for it, " Ophid shrugs.
They continue down the hallway until it splits off in two different directions. They can hear more soldiers moving around somewhere nearby. "Should we split up?" Ophid asks.
"We can cover more ground that way," Nebula agreed.
"I wanna go with Mier! Good luck with Neb. She's terrible." Peter grabs Miertra's hand and sprints down the hallway before Ophid could protest. Either of his siblings could have caught up with them easily if they had really wanted to.
Miertra stumbles behind Peter, "Wait, slow down!" He finally stops running once Nebula is out of sight. "Stars, don't be so rough with me," Miertra whines loudly and fixes their jacket.
"Sorry! I wanted to leave before Ophid could guilt me into staying with Neb," Peter explains.
Miertra nods and glares at the ground. "Can you try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum? It upsets my stomach."
Peter chuckles and waves his gun. "Course! We're using the same weapon, Mier." Miertra nods hesitantly. When Peter turns away Miertra's hand flys up to the collar of his vest, he gives his Ducky an affectionate squeeze. It makes him feel better. Miertra lets Peter take the lead as they wander deeper into the bunker. There are significantly less soldiers now–since presumably–they were all dead. There are many empty rooms. A fully stocked kitchen, two different common areas, and a bathroom. They quickly toss the rooms. They throw the furniture away from the walls, checking under beds and inside closets. Peter grows very bored of checking empty rooms very quickly. Nebula might be selfish and competitive and at times, very cruel, but at least she kept things interesting. Peter starts to sing For Whom The Bell Tolls under his breath just to have something else to do.
There was one door left at the end of the hallway. The red glow from the light on the door meant that it was locked. Miertra takes a deep breath and aims their rifle at the lock. "Ready?" Peter grins and cocks his gun.
Miertra blasts the lock clean off the door, they grin as smoke fills the hallway. Someone inside screams. Peter hums under his breath as he rushes into the smoke. He can't see his enemies but they can't see him either. Peter moves silently. A silhouette moves out of the corner of his eye. Peter lunges at them. The soldier puts a round through Peter's chest, they throw up an arm to shield someone, "Get back!" Peter double-taps them in the head.
He hears a gun cock behind him. Peter spins and shoots the enemy in the knee. They curse and fall backward. There's a muffled scream as the smoke begins to settle. "Stranger now, are his eyes, to this mystery, " Peter sings quietly. The soldier scrambles away from Peter as he stalks closer. He puts two rounds through the soldier's forehead. "He hears the silence so loud." The smoke had completely cleared, as he surveyed the room. It was a simple bedroom. Miertra stood hesitantly outside the doorway, he wanted to help Peter but the large pools of blood made it impossible for him to enter the room. Peter doesn't resent Miertra for it. "Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be, " Peter hums the next verse.
There are very few places to hide. He checks under the bed first, then tips the dresser over onto the corpse. It makes a loud thump. There's a surprised gasp followed by a "sh!" That was far louder than the gasp itself. Peter rolls his eyes and stalks across the room towards the closet.
Allace's voice comes through Miertra's transmitter. "Wait, Peter–"
"For whom the bell tolls, " Peter throws open the closet door. "Time marches on." The target along with two unimportant casualties die screaming. "I got the target!" Peter laughs and pumps his fist. He reaches for his transmitter to gloat to Nebula before he remembers that she took it from him at the start of the mission.
Allace's voice cut through Peter's own internal monologue. "Hey, dummy! You're on camera!" Miertra has his gun aimed at a corner of the room.
Peter turns to see the security camera, "God damn it!" Miertra shoots it down. Peter storms over to Miertra and snaps their transmitter off their belt. "Was it broadcasting? I thought you shut down their security cameras."
Allace replies hesitantly, "I-I can't tell if it's broadcasting or not. And I tried to tell you that I couldn't shut off the cameras,"
"Thanos is going to kill me! Assassins aren't supposed to get caught," Peter wails.
"At most you'll get a slap on the wrist, you big hatchling." Peter isn't sure if Allace was trying to insult him or reassure him. "Look, I'll try to find where the footage is being stored and delete it if you stop yelling."
"Thanks, " Peter says quietly.
Allace blows a raspberry, "I'm not promising anything. A fancy place like this probably has back-ups for their back-ups."
Peter sighs loudly and looks at the target. He asks Allace, "Would you tell Ophid that we killed the target? And tell Nebula to bring her hatchet, Thanos wants the target's head."
"Gross, " Miertra wrinkles their nose in disgust.
"Sure thing, Pete," Allace agreed.
Ophid and Nebula met up with them. She was disgruntled about not getting to kill the target but her mood brightened when she found out Peter got caught on camera. She chopped the head off the target and they all raced back to the elevator. They kept throwing the severed head between them as they ran. Except for Miertra, swore up and down that he would kill everyone if they made him so much as touch the decapitated head. Allace met them at the elevator and they left the building.
The outside world was just as fucked as when they left. The city was still in ruin and the people are still dead. The kids begin the long walk back to Thanos' Monument to Death. Ophid stretches their arms out as far as they can and stand on their tiptoes. "Ah, I love being planetside!"
Miertra's nose wrinkles up reflexively. "It smells like death."
"I'm sure she's nearby, " Nebula remarks dryly.
Miertra stiffened and their eyes went wide, their hand went to his vest. Allace blinks, "You decided to bring Ducky along?"
Peter giggles and Miertra pulls his jacket up over his nose to hide from his sibling's judgment. "Leave me alone!" He yelled and then raced ahead of Nebula. "I wanna go home!"
Ophid tossed the severed head into Allace's arms and ran after Miertra. "Hey, we can cut through the forest! It'll be faster."
"The forest, " Peter says hesitantly, he slows down a step.
"I've only ever seen a forest in pictures before! I wanna find some flowers and a pine cone!" Allace tossed the head over to Nebula and hurried after them. The three of them skip ahead, chatting amongst themselves.
Peter slows to a stop as the treeline comes into view. He can't go in there. He can't, he won't, never ever again. "I think I'm gonna–I'm gonna go…" he realizes that none of his siblings are paying attention to him. Maybe if he just stayed still they would all simply keep walking and leave him behind.
Allace did notice. She calls back over her shoulder drawing the attention of their other siblings. "Peter come on! You'll get in more trouble if you're late!"
"I-I-I know…" He stammers glancing around the city for some kind of escape. Something vaguely furry with four legs trots between the rubble. "Holy shit it's a dog!" Peter takes off at a full sprint towards the animal.
"Wait, Peter! No, you...and he's gone. Of course." Allace lifts her palms in exasperation. "Neb I wanna see the forest could you,"
"Yeah, I'll go get him." Nebula tossed the severed head back to Allace and took off after Peter.
"And don't be late!" Allace yells.
The dog sees Peter running towards them and takes off sprinting. Peter gives chase through the city. "Peter! Peter, you moron!" Nebula yells as she runs after him. He pretends not to hear her. They run between the abandoned vehicles, moving further away from Thanos with every minute. Peter never really catches up to the dog, but Nebula quickly caught up with him.
One moment Peter was running along the sidewalk and the next he was rolling down the street. Nebula had tackled him. They crashed into a lamp post. Peter hits his head hard enough to see spots. Nebula very easily pins him down and sits on him. Peter finds himself staring up at the belly of a warship. "Hey, Neb."
"I have been chasing you for ten minutes, " Nebula hissed at him between heavy breaths.
"Oh, I didn't hear you, " Peter lied. He closed his eyes to keep the world from spinning. "There was a dog." The dog at this point had realized that Peter was no longer chasing them and had taken to eating grass nearby.
"I see that." Nebula slowly stood up and offered Peter her hand. "We should not keep our father waiting."
Peter frowns, "Do we have to go through the forest?"
"No."
"Okay, " Peter takes Nebula's hand and she pulls him to his feet. Peter dusts himself off. "But I am going to pet that dog first."
"Peter, " she lifts her palms in an exasperated gesture.
"I gotta pet the dog, Neb!" He yells back.
Nebula rolls her eyes when Peter immediately starts chasing the dog again. She watches him run up and down the street while calling out to the dog. Two minutes of this was insufferable. "Sit!" Nebula barks command with as much authority as she could muster.
The dog sat. Peter also snapped into attention. A second later, he realized what had just happened. "Dude, that's so not cool!"
Nebula tries to hide her snickering, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't think that you would–I was just trying to get the dog–and I did! I'm sorry!" Her snickering quickly turns to blatant laughter at his expense.
A few mean-spirited remarks pass through his mind. But he doesn't say anything. He can't remember the last time he heard Nebula laugh at anything. It felt too cruel to spoil it. Peter knelt down to pet the dog. Their tail thumped against the ground as Peter scratched behind their ears.
Nebula strolled over once she had stopped laughing. She's trying her hardest to maintain her neutral expression. "Father certainly has you well trained, " She comments lightly.
Peter buries his face in the dog's fur as he wraps them up in a hug. "Yeah, whatever. This dog is my new big sister. She's way better than you." Peter pulls away from the dog but continues to pet them. "Isn't that right? Are you better than my mean old sister?" The dog licks Peter's face.
Nebula cringed, "That's disgusting."
"She's giving me kisses." Peter giggles and hugs the dog again. "I'm going to call her Nebula 2 or just Nebula for short."
"Don't name it!" Nebula groans loudly. She stomps her foot and looks skyward. She takes a deep breath before pointing across the city towards Thanos. "You got to pet the dog so can we go now? If I'm late because of you–"
"Okay! Okay." Peter sighs dramatically. There was no point in getting in more trouble than he was already in. He patted the dog on the head and said goodbye, the dog licked his face again. Nebula decided she wasn't going to wait for him any longer and started walking back. Peter had to run to catch up with her.
They walk briskly to Thanos' Monument to Death. Nebula learned (against her will) about how earth refugees brought their dogs with them when they migrated. Dogs became popular across the galaxy, and some were genetically modified to survive on different planets. Peter explained all of this as they walked, in an attempt to combat his one nemesis: silence.
They ascended the side of the monument to find their other siblings already gathered around Thanos' throne. The severed head lay at his feet. Peter and Nebula are quick to join the other children. "Ah you finally decided to join us, I see." Thanos looks down at them with disapproval. Peter shifts uncomfortably. Merely being in Thanos' presence was enough to make his skin crawl. Nebula dropped her gaze to the ground. Thanos sighs and leans back in his throne. He continues in a lighter tone of voice, "As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted, " He gestures for someone to come closer. "This is your new youngest sibling, Maenyx. Say hello, dear."
An absolutely terrified 4-year-old kid peers out from behind the throne. There's blood splattered across their face and dried into their loose green hair. Their antenna twitched nervously as she stared at them with sunken bloodshot eyes. If Thanos had decided to adopt them that meant that they had seen enough people die, that Death herself appeared before little Maenyx. They manage a whisper, "Hello dear."