A/N: I'm on time! For a while there I didn't think I'd get a chance to post until at least much later tonight. Yay for little miracles


Peter stared. "The Grandmaster?"

He took a little bow, fluttering his eyelashes at Peter. "Why yes, that's me. Loki introduced me, I see?"

"I… What?" Loki said. "I know him?"

"Why, Loki!" Grandmaster exclaimed, pressing a hand over his heart. "I'm hurt. I'm truly hurt."

"Beb did something to his mind," Kutral explained. "Which I hope won't affect our agreed-upon price."

Grandmaster swept past Peter, stopping in front of Loki and lifting his chin with a finger. "Hey!" Peter protested as Loki tensed, shifting uncomfortably. Peter moved, ready to shove this dude away, but suddenly a blaster was pressing into his shoulder. He glared at the guard holding it.

"Why is he leaning on this- this bug lady?" Grandmaster asked, tilting Loki's head. "And what happened to his face?"

"I happened," Beb growled. She and Erebu emerged from the tunnel, Erebu smothering a yawn as she went over to Kutral. Beb moved towards Loki. Mantis angled herself between Beb and Loki, bumping him into the Grandmaster to do so. Loki flinched. Peter fought back the urge to elbow the guard in the face.

"Mm. Revenge?" the Grandmaster guessed, stepping back and brushing off his cloak where Loki had touched it.

"Which, honey, does it really do that much good if he doesn't remember why you're getting revenge?" Kutral asked.

Beb shrugged. "I thought my spell would've worn off by now."

Peter shared a concerned glance with Gamora. Why hasn't it?

He examined their situation. The five armed guards, all of whom had moved closer, might be easy to take out, even considering Peter and Gamora's cuffed hands. But their three original captors all hardly looked scraped, and Mantis's antennae were starting to droop – she wouldn't be ordering anyone to sleep in the near future. Even with her help, Loki was struggling to hold himself upright, and Peter's stomach was growling again.

Besides, the sooner he could get Loki away from Beb, the better.

Where are the others? he wondered. Did they get hurt? Are we- Crap, we're not even on Ascorix. Damn it, maybe we should put trackers in each other. This happens way too often.

"Look, can we just get sold already?" Peter asked. Loki stared at him.

"That suits me," Kutral said with a shrug. "So, does our original deal stand?"

"I suppose," Grandmaster said, waving off one of the guards. Peter clenched his fists, staying in place by sheer force of will. In some ways, he occasionally missed his days as a Ravager.

"But you," Grandmaster went on, pointing at Beb. "You did this to him?"

Beb lifted her chin, subtly shifted into a fighting stance. "I did," she confirmed warily.

Grandmaster sidled back up to Loki, grabbing his chin again, but this time with enough force to whiten the skin around his fingers. Loki swallowed. "I need those two – well, three, I suppose – to begin rebuilding my arena. But, you see, Loki here used to live in my house. He crashed onto my planet, wounded by his sister and abandoned by his brother. So, out of the kindness of my heart, I took him in, gave him food and clothes and safety when he had nowhere else to go. And how did he repay me? By betraying me for that same brother."

"It's a habit of his," Gamora said. "Now let go of him."

"Or you'll what?" Beb demanded. "Give me a reason, sister."

Kutral hissed. "Do not endanger this deal."

"No, I want her to be part of it," Grandmaster said, releasing Loki with a flourish to move towards Beb. Loki gasped as his head snapped to the side, lifting a hand to rub gingerly at the bruises already forming on his chin.

"You see, I want my revenge as well, but I'm happy to see someone else dole out some punishment. So, if you'll agree to become my champion, I'll let you… play with him some more."

Beb's face twisted into a sadistic snarl. "If you let me have my fun, I'll do whatever you want."

The Grandmaster clapped his hands together just as the dispatched guard returned a unit creditor. "Excellent! Pay these women, if you please." He rounded on the four Guardians. "And welcome to my service."

Peter could only stare in horror at Loki and Mantis. She was shaking, Loki's terror evident on her face even as she clung to their connection, clung to her control. Loki was entirely still, staring at the ground, his eyes devoid of emotion. Only Gamora's touch on Peter's elbow snapped him out of it, drawing his gaze to her. She said nothing, but there was the fire of a promise in her eyes:

We will protect him.

-MCU-

They dropped Bex and his mother off on Xandar, enduring tears and hugs before they finally convinced the duo to leave. Then they took off again, heading straight for Kutral's signal. Based on the data, she had been holed up in one spot for most of the duration of their search, bringing them to a small moon orbiting an unpopulated planet. Unfortunately, she had finally started moving.

"We should follow her," Drax argued.

"Look, what if they left Peter and the others behind?" Rocket argued. "Or what if she struck out on her own? We gotta check that planet she was on. Just in case."

"Nova Prime said-"

"I don't give a crap! We'll catch 'em later. In the meantime, I'm goin' after our team."

"I am Groot!"

"Thank you, Groot." Rocket crossed his arms at Drax. "Ya with us?"

"Yes," Drax decided. "Let us search for our friends."

"Good," Rocket said, piloting down for a landing in a clearing. There were scorch marks in the grass, left by other ships' thrusters. Those ships were gone, leaving the Milano with plenty of room to land, but leaving Rocket with doubts. Still, he parked, and they disembarked, picking out a path through the trees that led to a cave.

In front of the cave lay a pile of things: Gamora's swords, Peter's blasters, Peter's knapsack, and some food. Rocket ran over to the stuff, checking it out. "No blood on the swords," he said. "She never got a chance to use them. And… aw crap, the Zune's in here."

"If their belongings have been left lying around, then they will not be here," Drax said. "We should depart."

"No," Rocket said. "This means they've already been sold off – Kutral won't be with them. We should stay, see if they managed to leave any clues behind."

"Rocket, we are wasting time-"

"We're being thorough!" Rocket retorted. "We take half an hour here, max. If we find nothing, we go after Kutral and get answers out of her. Using whatever methods necessary."

"All right," Drax agreed grudgingly, turning to the cave entrance.

The first room yielded nothing of significance. Nor did the supply closet. But an inspection of the bathroom showed a blood-stained sink. "One of them's hurt," Rocket realized aloud. Groot covered his mouth, and Rocket led him back outside quickly, saying as he went, "We don't know if it's one of them, though. It could be one of the escapees."

"It is not."

Drax's answer came from deeper into the tunnels. Rocket gestured for Groot to sit and stay put; for once, the teen obeyed. Then Rocket ran down the tunnel, trying to ignore the chill that penetrated his fur. Drax saw him coming and disappeared into a side room. Rocket followed.

And immediately froze in horror.

This room held only one piece of furniture: a table. It was thick and metal, with two sets of straps, one at wrist height and one at the foot of the table. Its silver surface was stained with blood, pooled around the shape of a humanoid torso.

"Loki or Peter?" Rocket whispered.

Drax hefted himself onto the table, leaning down to fit his arm into the shape left by the stains. It was a weird thing of his, needing to know who amongst them had the biggest muscles. Based on the torso size, it wasn't Gamora or Mantis, but the rest would have to be left to Drax's judgement.

"Loki," he answered quietly, jumping off the table as if it had shocked him.

"Makes sense, I guess," Rocket said. "Given his history with Beb."

"Indeed."

Rocket hurried back out of the room, but forced himself deeper into the cave. He found a couple cells. One was empty, but three coats lay in the second: Gamora's, Peter's, and Loki's. Drax collected them, and then they returned to the ship, settling into their seats with determination in their movements.

"We have a Kutral to catch," Rocket snarled.

-MCU-

Loki curled up on his side, his back to the others, in the corner of their newest cell. At least this one was warmer, with pristine white walls and floor. A forcefield penned them in, shimmering gold and sending him reeling back with a shock when Peter gingerly tested it out. Before removing Peter and Gamora's cuffs and locking them all in, the guards had affixed little discs to their necks, things the Grandmaster had referred to as obedience discs. He'd warned them not to mess with them, not that Loki had any real intention of doing so.

He would be dead soon anyway. After… whatever Beb would throw at him. Might as well not add any extra pain to it.

But what if you have reason to fight? part of him whispered, that tiny ember of hope that somehow still survived, not yet extinguished by the months of torture. What if these people are telling the truth?

Loki buried his face in his hands, trying to hide from the images that taunted him, images of joking with Thor, of curling up at night with the woman he loved. Gods he wanted that, wanted even some semblance of relief from the unceasing agony, but- but it just couldn't be true. And if Mother was truly dead… No. No, she's alive, she has to be.

"Loki?"

He started out of his thoughts, tilting his head to see Peter. "What?"

Peter held up a cup and a small bowl. "Hungry? They dropped off some food."

"No point in dying hungry, I suppose," Loki said, pushing himself upright.

Peter winced a little. "We're gonna get you out of here, Loki."

Loki took the meager meal, closing his eyes in relief as a sip of water slid down his scream-scraped throat. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Loki-"

"Why should I trust you?" he interrupted.

Peter sat back. "What?"

"Why should I trust you?" Loki repeated, meeting Peter's eyes. "You three make a good show of being protective of me, but the opposite always seems to happen. And everything you've told me that was supposedly erased from my mind – in a spell that Beb admitted should have worn off by now – could just be an insane lie. For all I know, this is just some elaborate ruse cooked up to give me hope only to steal it away."

"It's not," Peter promised.

Loki just arched an eyebrow, sipping at his lukewarm broth.

"All right, you want real proof we actually know you…" Peter said, thinking. "Well, for one, you love to draw, and you're damn good at it. Sif taught you, when you guys were like a couple hundred years old. You draw people, usually, memories. You told me once, when I managed to get you drunk, that's because you want to remember them even when you're 5,000 and the rest of us are long gone."

"A fair start," Loki allowed. How many people know about that? That was supposed to be a lifelong secret.

Peter smirked before speaking again. "Also, you refuse to eat lamb because one time, when you were still learning to shapeshift, you turned into a lamb, couldn't turn back, and got chased around by a hungry Volstagg for an hour. Frigga laughed for five minutes before calming down enough to help you out."

Loki pursed his lips. "I don't-"

"Like talking about it? Yeah, we know, but it's a great way to mock you. Besides, you asked for proof."

"True," Loki muttered. "Tell me something else. Then I'll decide."

"What's something else you haven't told anyone…" Peter murmured, scratching his head. He stopped, breathing out a small "Oh." Loki eyed him as he set down his food.

"One of the times we were on Earth," he started quietly, "you asked if we could sneak off somewhere. You said Thor and Jane – she's his girlfriend – couldn't know about it, and you didn't want to go alone, but you didn't want to go with Val, either. I said yes, because that's what friends are for, and you took me to this little old town in Sweden. And then you took me to their graveyard. You'd been acting weird, so part of me wondered if you'd snapped and were taking me there to kill me, but… turns out you were there to visit the grave of the human you'd once fallen in love with. Carita."

Loki closed his eyes, remembering years of laughter and candlelit meals and nights beneath the stars. "You… you know about Carita?"

"Just me and Val," Peter confirmed quietly. "You don't want to tell Thor until Jane has passed, too." He paused. "Her, uh… her sister showed up, came to visit her grave at the same time we did. Said she just… had a feeling she should. And even though it had been decades, she remembered you. Told us that it broke her heart to see you invading New York, that she almost refused to believe it was you, because that wasn't the handsome nerd her sister had fallen in love with. She invited us to dinner, and both of you cried over her before the night was over. But she forgave you for disappearing when Carita died, and the two of you still talk when we're in range."

A bittersweet smile tugged at Loki's lips as he swiped at the tears threatening to fall. "I guess I do trust you, if you know about Carita and my drawing."

Peter smiled, rested a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get you out of here, Loki."

Loki found himself believing him.