Gamora
When the smoke bomb had been released back in Titan I felt myself drop to floor, fall out of consciousness and then I couldn't exactly remember much after that.
What I do remember is opening my eyes to blue handcuffs and someone shouting my name, then Thanos and the dark soldiers. It was an unconscious blur in between those moments. As I awoke again, I had witnessed a strangely shaped dagger, looking incredibly similar to mine. Coming to think of it, I believe it was one of mine. They had the Tesseract with them and I wanted to wake up and do something about it, but my muscles felt limp and I couldn't keep my eyes wide open for a few minutes.
Then they stabbed my dagger in to the Tesseract, and the blue power flowed through the metal. They were talking about something then. I could hear them, but I was too drowsy to comprehend their words. Afterwards, the solider that held my dagger approached me wearing a smirk and chuckling while Thanos gave him orders.
I awoke once more to the cold and sharp point of blade sliding across my face, and sliding across the tip of my nose and then my jawline. Finally, the sharpest end sunk deep in to my lip and the solider slipped the dagger back in to my boot holder with my blood still on the tip.
"You won't be kissing your precious Peter Quill now." I remember the words of the being that sliced me.
Cold deep crimson blood dribbled slowly down my face, and although the knife's sharp point didn't exactly injure me much the Tesseract's power burned through my veins and causing me to scream. I could hear the beat of my heart rise faster and faster, and got to the point where I just blacked out.
I was out for hours, under the control of someone else. I watched everything that I had done but couldn't physically do anything about it. And it hurt.
The next thing I know, I black out completely thanks to Rocket. I'm in a state of complete darkness and utter silence, except for the noise of my own thoughts. After some time, I'm beginning to hear words again, in Peter's voice. I didn't have the strength to properly awake, so instead I chose to listen to what he had to say. And I'm glad I did. No one has ever told me that they love me before. No one.
I had my mother who probably would have said something along the lines, but I was too young to remember most of her words. And besides, I don't like thinking of my mother since she brings back tragic memories.
Peter Quill loves me…
We had returned to Titan, with the help of a woman who called herself Peter's mother, to collect the Milano. Peter talked to me; clarifying the appearance of his mother, the betrayal of Taneleer, and he also explained how I managed to gain the minor cut on his leg – although I had already told him that I was aware of those actions.
I am furious with Thanos.
"When I get my hands on that Collector, I'm going to RIP HIM APART!" Rocket yelled from the back seat, and demonstrated with his paws viciously.
"Calm down. The Collector is basically another Ronan, another one of Thanos's puppets." I tell Rocket calmly, as I help Peter steer the ship.
"Another one of his puppets that will be ripped to shreds." Rocket mutters under his breath.
I turn around to look at him and he just smirks back at me. I roll my eyes and turn back to the front, sliding holographic panels to help control the ship's speed.
"Gamora," Drax says, and I pause to turn around once more. "I will take care of the ship's speed, so you shall rest, especially after yesterday's events." He offers.
"No, it's fine. I'm fine."
"He's right. Just relax, okay?" Peter chimes in and turns to look at me with a small smile.
With a moment's consideration, I sigh and nod my head. I lean back in my seat and slide out both of my blades from the belt holders against my boots. One had a blue streak through the sharp edge, and it was clearly the one harassed by the Tesseract. I slipped the other dagger back in to its place. The blade I held felt heavier and sent vibrations of power through my fingertips, creating a light buzz. I frowned and turned the dagger over and over, weighing it in my hands.
"Something wrong?" Peter asks, but doesn't look my way. He is concentrating on the ship.
I glance down at the dagger once more.
"Not at all." I answer and slide the dagger back, and I see Peter nod.
"So where exactly are we going, Quill?" Rocket calls out.
"I freakin' told you. We are going to back to Knowhere, to check if he is there." Peter answers irritably.
Rocket laughs, "As if he's going to be there!"
"Well do you have anything better, Ranger Rick?"
"Ranger Rick?"
"Terran 1980 raccoon character with…It doesn't matter." Peter sighs.
"Whatever…but do you seriously think that weirdo is going back to the first place that we would look?" Rocket asks.
"I repeat; we are only going to check." Peter says firmly and the ship travels the faster.
"Yeah, yeah…" Rocket mumbles.
Soon after, the Celestial's decapitated head otherwise known as Knowhere can be seen in distance, and swarmed by a dark blanket of the galaxy's darkest skies with explosions of purples, greens and blues, sprinkled with the light of stars.
"Here goes nothing." Peter says and turns to look at me.
The Collector loves to live up to his name, as his cages and archives are full with a bunch of goodies from all around the universe. If it's rare, exotic, or just really sought after, he'll want it for his own. And yet, what's rarer than the Infinity Stones? A force of power that every power-hungry maniac in their right mind wants to get their hands on at the moment, scattered across the universe in only six limited edition pieces; the Infinity Gauntlet is the ultimate trophy for the man who wants to have everything. Why didn't we see it coming beforehand? Why did we even trust him?
"So, do we just…" Peter looks at us all for permission as he raises his fist to the door.
"Knock." Drax says.
Peter pauses before he knocks on the steel door, setting rattles through the building and a loud echo over the silence. It only takes a few seconds before that Xanderian slave, Anaconda, activates the door to open.
"Sincere apologies my visitors but –" she begins and then looks up at us all. A horrified expression replaces her friendly and welcoming smile. "Oh no."
"Oh no, indeed." Rocket says tauntingly.
"Anaconda!" a very familiar voice calls from inside and the servant freezes, staring at us all as in fear.
"Y-yes, master?" she answers quietly.
"What is taking you so long?"
Before Anaconda has time to answer, Rocket sighs and slips through the door between Anaconda's feet.
"Rocket!" I hiss.
Soon enough, Groot follows. Then Drax and of course Peter. I glance towards Anaconda and nod my head awkwardly before brushing past her and entering the museum.
The Collector is working at a table, with some form of mechanics. Anaconda slowly closes the door and follows us inside.
"I knew I would see you all once again." He says in his regular slow and oddly pausing pace, his back still turned.
"You betrayed us!" Drax shouts.
"You're working for the purple loser!" Rocket joins in.
"Have we not already talked over this?" he asks and turns around to reveal himself, looking even more tired and bored than he usually does.
"We have come to take back what is rightfully ours!" Rocket raises his gun.
"And that is?"
"Vengeance," Rocket answers. "And a whole lot of pain." He smirks.
The Collector laughs, a deep hollow laugh that sounded dark and eerie. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asks before.
"Yes." Rocket, Drax and Peter say in a union and I sigh.
"Very well…" Taneleer mutters.
Darkness begins to swarm our vision and screeching sound stings through the air. As the darkness gradually dissipates, a dark figure replaces Taneleer's spot. The figure was made of dark shadows and utter blackness that seemed to suck the soul out of your body. And then there were his claws; dragging across the steel floor, sharp and powerful. The only features recognisable on his face were a pair of red glowing holes that represented something like headlights.
I think Taneleer Tivan just transformed in to this monster.
"You…" Peter whispers. "You were the…"
I frown slightly, attempting to get an understanding of what was going on at the moment.
"Yes, I was in your nightmare." Replies a deep and scratchy voice, coming from the dark shadow beast, although it had no representation of a mouth.
"What are you?" I ask and stare at him with shock.
"An Elder of the Universe. I am immortal, and have been here since the beginning of time." The Collector's dark form answers.
"Okay, maybe we underestimated this guy." Rocket comments.
"You think?" Peter raises a brow.
"Fight me mortals. Is that not what you came for?" The figure moves forward, the claws scratching against the tiles.
I decide to begin first, to protect us at all costs. I take both my daggers out of my boot holder, grasping on to the Tesseract oriented one and spurt forward, jabbing the useless dagger in to his shadowed leg, so only the handle is visible.
"Gamora!" Peter yells and rushes forward, behind me.
I hear the shadow figure hiss in pain and I duck under a powerful swing from his right claw. I already seemed to figure out his tactics; he was slow, but heavily powerful and seemed to have this presence that made me feel drained, weary and emotionless – almost like The Collector himself.
Rocket, present on Groot's shoulder wielding his gun, and Drax come forward. The dark soldiers from the previous encounter sneak past cases and glass cages to battle us as well. They swarm and swing over the boxes equipped with exotic weapons and dangerous looking weapons.
"Great." I mutter as the soldiers back Taneleer up.
Where did they even come from anyway?
"Let's do this." Rocket calls out from Groot's shoulder and prepares his gun, with faint clicks and flicks of buttons and switches.
All at once, the two sides seem to collide together and the noise erupts like a massive wave of battle shouts, shadow and darkness. The presence makes me feel incredibly…dead, is a way to put it.
Groot, Rocket, Drax and Peter begin to attack back at the crowds. Peter activates his mask as he battles beside me, using his usual Element Guns.
I begin to attack a handful of Thanos's members. I kick one back in the chest and knock out the ones behind me with a back walk-over. They all started to groan on the floor and I manage not to smile. A sudden pain blooms in my left foot and as I look up, I realise that one of them had shot me. Bad choice.
I spring forward and slit the blue-streaked dagger in to the opponent's waist with a quick flick, and then hold its body up from crumpling to the ground. It probably would die. I barely expected myself to survive through the Tesseract's dangerous juices.
I slowly let go of his leather collar and its eyes flicker a piercing blue before it crumples to the ground. Dead, just as I expected.
Pain continues to shoot up my left foot as I step back. I wince slightly and raise my foot, a small deep red imprint leaving a mark. I decide to carry on, despite the stinging pain shooting up my leg.
Suddenly, I watch as The Collector's dark form grab hold of Peter and then he tightens his grip around Peter's leather clothing. I can almost see the life being sucked out of his body, his two Element Guns dropping towards the floor with a loud clatter. I gasp, and stop what I'm doing.
Groot, Rocket and Drax continue to fight the mounds of malicious troopers, without knowledge of Peter's disaster.
I run towards the two, but a powerful force pushed me back in to the wall. Searing fiery bursts pulsated through my back, intensifying with each attempt to move, jarring and brutal. With each attempt of recovery the pain amplified, the bloody muscles in my body quivered, my consciousness ebbed. Black mists swirled at the edges of my mind drawing me into sweet oblivion.
I flighted against it and barred my teeth, blinking my eyes back open and removing the salty tears that had formed.
Anaconda stood timidly behind a glass case that trapped a massive blue butterfly, and held a powerful looking gun. Then I knew it was her who had shot me. I narrow my eyes and forced myself upwards. She flinched and ran off elsewhere, deep in to the museum. I would have to take care of her nonsense later.
I turned back to Peter and the nothingness of Taneleer, who were beginning to fight. Taneleer tripped Peter with his long dark claws and I pressed my lower lip in between my teeth. I tried taking a step but ended up tripping over some rubble beneath my feet, caused by Anaconda's powerful gun shot. I slowly pushed myself back up, wincing at the pain that bloomed in my body. I watched as Taneleer raised his long dark claws, about to ruin Peter.
"Peter!" I yelled.
Regret washed over me like the long slow folds of water in a fountain. Each wave was icy cold and sent shivers down my spine. How I longed to go back and take a different path, but now that was impossible. There was no way back. There was no way to make it right. The remorse would eat at me every day of my life. He could be dead by now.
I couldn't bear to look. But I did. And what I saw almost frightened me.
A man, taller than Peter, battled in front of Peter's tired body as if to save him. He had tousled chestnut hair, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin. Who was this man and where did he come from?
He projected a glowing red energy light, in the form of a shield in front of him and knocked Taneleer backwards. The shield then transformed in to the form of a sharp sword, and the man moved forward to slice his opponent. He was a magic user of some sort.
With ease he bought Taneleer's dark form to the floor and brang the transparent crimson concocted sword to his throat threatingly.
"Since when are you to be fighting under Thanos's will?" the mysterious man asks and pushes the sword closer to the dark shadow figure's neck.
"What does it matter to you?" The Collector answers, viciously.
One of Thanos's fighters slowly evade up behind the man with a thick knife, slowly spinning at his fingertips. My eyes widen and without thinking I throw my dagger at the intruding soldier's body, and it sinks deep in to his rib cage. Only seconds later, the body sinks to the floor now cold and dead.
The mysterious man notices the dead body behind him and his eyes flicker to me, his piercing eyes scanning my appearance respectively. He outstretches a hand towards me and flicks his wrist. A sudden burst of air fills my lungs and I'm hauled quickly to my feet. The pain, wounds, and bruises fade away in to my skin and restore me to full health. I raise my fingers to touch my bottom lip to feel for the cut, but it too has disappeared.
I run towards Peter's body, kneeling at his side. He was still breathing, evident by his movement and the sound of breathing echoing against his steel mask – but is he conscious? It took me a moment to figure out how to deactivate the mask from his face. His eyes flickered open, but he squinted under the light. His face seemed slightly drained of color and the dark circles were more prominent under his deep blue eyes.
"Gamora?" he whispered hoarsely.
"Peter." I confirmed and tentatively reached out to touch his face. "A-are you alright?" I asked and then moved my hand towards his chest. My heart beats inside my chest and I begin felt nervous.
He laughs lightly, and presses his hand on top of mine. "Yeah." He answers.
Taneleer growls at the man.
"You are foolish to be wasting your sorcery like such. Join us, and you too shall earn the respect of billions." Taneleer says darkly.
"Join you? And what? Forever suffer in Thanos's slavery?" the man questions and shakes his head with decline. "Have a good time rotting in Hel, immortal." He says and with a single agile movement, the sword seeps deep beneath the shadows of Taneleer's monstrous form. He doesn't even make a sound as his murky limbs go weak and his red eyes roll in to bottomless black pits of darkness just like the rest of his carcass. I believe Taneleer Tivan is dead.
The energy sword of the man fades too, and he stands to his full height and looks back at Peter and me with an expression I cannot place.
"Who are you?" I ask quietly.
"My name is Adam." The man says and his eyes flicker up towards Groot, Rocket and Drax who have killed all the dark soldiers and were now staring at the scene silently.
"Adam Warlock." He says. "I don't mean harm."
Peter pushes his body up, and rises to his feet, pulling me up with him.
"After reuniting with Meredith, I believe I have a son." He continues and glances directly towards Peter.
"Not this crap again…" Rocket groans.
There you go. I finished this chapter in a matter of hours so I apologize for any mistakes. I've already planned out the sequel, which I'm totally pumped about. In my opinion, I think it will be better than this story – but I haven't written it yet so I cannot say anything. I probably won't be posting for a few days either, I'm going to have a little break and do some more planning for the sequel.
What do you guys think so far? Opinions on Peter's father? What are you expecting in the sequel?
Thanks for 100+ reviews!