Lose Some, Win Some

Finally, a new chapter. It took me a while due to personal circumstances. I hope I'll manage to speed up the pace a bit in the future. Thank you, readers, for your patience!

Rocket barked, "Yeah, it's me, you flarkin' idiot. What the fuck are you doin' here?"

Drax replied, "I may ask you the same question."

"Whaddya think? We're takin' ya out of here."

"I'm not leaving this place."

"Would ya mind tellin' me what's goin' on, Drax, 'coz we lost track of ya. In more than one way."

"This is a crucial mission. It supersedes everything. There is no time to explain. They will sound the alarm and catch you. Leave, while you can!"

"Supersedes what? Yer friends? We're yer mission, Drax, we are!" Rocket said and pointed to himself with an angry finger. "Stop this nonsense. Ye're part of us, ya come with us!"

"No, I will not. Now leave!"

Rocket had enough of this. He swung his gun forward to tranquilise the rogue Guardian, but underestimated his lightning fast reflexes. Before he could squeeze the trigger, the green man had already launched his knife, piercing the right arm of Rocket and pinning him to the wall behind him. The raccoon dropped his gun and screamed in pain. Drax approached him, probably to retrieve his knife, when he felt a few stings in the back of his neck. He turned around instantly and faced a cat-like creature, about the same size as Rocket. "What is that?" he exclaimed.

"I'm Sam, I'm here with Rocket," the cat said cheerfully.

The green man was about to say something, but his legs collapsed and his torso fell to the ground.

Rocket clenched his teeth and wiggled the knife to get it loose. Sam came to his help. He grabbed the grip of the knife and helped moving it back and forth, until they were able to pull it out of the wall and out of the raccoon's arm. It hardly bled.

Sam gesticulated. A small, rectangular device appeared, floating above the pierced arm. The cat gave a series of finger commands.

"What are ya doin'?" Rocket whispered.

"Healing your wound," Sam replied quietly. "Don't move."

After a few seconds, the device disappeared. Rocket's arm was undamaged again, except for a slim trail of blood.

"Neat," Rocket said. "And nice shooting by the way."

"Anytime," the cat said.

The ringtail took a small communicator out of a pocket of his suit and briefly informed Peter about the status of the mission. Then he commanded, "You guard Drax, I go up and disable security."

"Okie dokie," his companion acknowledged.

Rocket climbed up a flight of stairs to the first floor. He entered in one of the two upper cubes. The first one had a narrow corridor and two inbuilt rooms with open doors. He peeked around the corner of the first door. There were three Skrulls behind security monitors. He lay flat on his belly and shot them one by one. Shortly after, the Skrulls hung limp in their chairs. The masked mammal briefly studied the security system and issued a number of commands.

The second room contained bunk beds with sleeping Skrull in it. Rocket took them out silently.

He sneaked to the next cube. This one had a more mysterious interior. Two Skrulls in white coats monitored a big vertical chemical reactor that was connected to smaller copies all around. The rest of the room was filled with computers that were connected to the reactors by massive flat wires running over the floor. Rocket didn't pay too much attention to what the coats were doing. He disabled them and signalled the rest of the crew that the site was secure and they could come in to take Drax away.

Peter, Gamora and Groot approached from roughly the same spot Rocket and Sam had left the jungle before. With large steps, Groot walked towards the building. Peter and Gamora run alongside with weapons in their hands. They mounted the platform. Groot went in. He walked through the corridors, to the place where Sam was guarding the unconscious Drax. Meanwhile, Rocket came down the stairs. Groot lifted Drax and carried him towards the exit. The two animals followed.

At the entrance, Peter and Gamora waited impatiently for the rest of the crew to come out. Suddenly, Gamora went into the building.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked, "that's not the plan."

"I'm worried. Let me check if they need help."

"OK, but come back as quickly as possible."

Rocket was surprised to see Gamora come through the corridors. While Groot and Sam continued to run to the exit, the ringtail halted the green woman. "What are ya doin', Gam? Ye're supposed to guard the exit," he inquired.

"The exit is secure. I'll watch the teleport until Drax is safely outside. Do you have explosives?"

"I never leave without, ya know me"

"Give me some, I'll detonate the building so no one can come after us."

"I can do that."

"No, you go! You're not properly armed. Who knows who may beam in."

"OK, alright then. Here's my baby. Gives ya a minute time."

Gamora took the time bomb and went in the direction of the teleport room. Groot and Sam left the building and continued to run towards the Milano. When Rocket came out, Peter asked, "Where's Gam?"

"She's gonna blow up the place."

"OK," Peter said, "I'll wait here for her."

"Ya may want ta step back a little. The blast range is about a hundred metres."

Both Guardians ran to a safer place at the edge of the clearing and waited for Gamora to come out.

Soon, Groot and Sam arrived at the Milano. Drax was brought to the lower section. Sam told how the warrior had attacked the raccoon and asked Groot to chain him to the wall for safety. While he was doing that, they heard the echoes of gunfire. Shortly thereafter, the floor rumbled and the ship shook.

Sam and Groot became nervous; they didn't know about Gamora's plan to use explosives. Groot was about to run out of the ship to see if they needed him, but Sam called, "Wait! I can see from here what happened."

Hesitantly, Groot stopped and returned. Sam quickly produced a hologram of the building and the surroundings. "Rocket and Peter are safe, they're not wounded."

This calmed Groot down a bit. "I am Groot?"

"Yes, I'm checking ... How odd, I can't find Gamora."

"I am Groot?" the tree-man asked in shock.

"No, I can't find anything. Her body is not there. Even stranger, the bodies of the Skrulls are gone too."

Suddenly, a big red sign appeared above the hologram of the contorted shreds of the metal building.

"Shit!" Sam exclaimed, "There's a biohazard." He took his communicator and called, "Rocket?"

"Sam, the building collapsed and Gamora didn't come out. Send Groot!"

"She's not there, I scanned the place. Rocket, listen carefully: you have to leave the place immediately! Run away from it! There's a deadly biological substance."

"How do ya mean she's not there? We need to find her and pull her out!"

"Trust me, please. She's not there. She must have gone through the teleport. The Skrulls are not there either. You have to hurry and come back to the ship!"

Sam heard a short discussion between Rocket and Peter. He heard how, before the building exploded, Peter and Rocket were shot at and someone dragged the Skrull soldier lying on the outside platform back inside. Apparently, things hadn't gone according to plan. Then Peter took the com and noticed Sam that they would come his way.

Sam urged, "Hurry, your lives are in danger. I read a high virus concentration." Then he asked Groot, "Can you guard Drax? I'll run towards them, so I can help them."

Groot nodded.

Sam quickly put on his backpack and sprinted out of the ship, in the direction of the clearing.

When he approached the open place in the forest, he could see Peter and Rocket running and stumbling. Both coughed up red mucus. Sam tended to the raccoon first. He popped up a small medical device and programmed it. Then he asked peter to sit down and did the same with him. It took a minute before they could breathe normally again.

Sam explained, "They must have had some kind of virus laboratory. It's an aggressive strain, it destroys lung tissue."

Rocket answered, "One of the top rooms had a reactor chamber."

Peter looked very unhappy and cursed, "Flark it! We lost Gamora. We have to get back."

"It's no use," Sam replied. He popped up a hologram and tried to trace what had happened inside. First, he zoomed in on the transporter room. The displayed scene showed Gamora standing outside the room, while a number of men and women came out.

"Nova officers!" Peter noticed with surprise.

"Yes, and they match the missing Nova Corps members."

He zoomed in on Gamora. One of the high-ranking officers had a conversation with her. It almost looked as the warrior woman had been expecting these men to come out; she looked calm while she talked to the man. Then she stuck the bomb to the cube's wall, set a time delay and put the device on standby.

Sam changed the point of view of the scanned 4D footage. Two officers ran to the front of the building. One shot at Rocket and Peter, while the other one dragged the sedated Skrull back in. Then they closed the doors. Meanwhile, the other officers where hastily picking up the Skrulls lying all over in the building. They marched back to the teleportation device. The last to go in was Gamora. She activated the charge, stepped into the teleporter and disappeared. Ten seconds later, the explosive went off.

Peter sat on the ground and looked at the scene, pretty much without a clue. Rocket and Sam were equally baffled. Nobody knew what to say.

The cat switched off the hologram.

Peter looked with hollow eyes to Rocket and muttered, "Gamora too, they have her too."

His raccoon friend acknowledged silently. He looked aghast.

They got up and walked back to the ship in a slow pace. While they entered, Sam said to Peter, "We have chained Drax below. In case he tries to do something funny. Groot is guarding him."

Rocket went to the cockpit. Not to fly the ship; he just needed a place to sit down. Out of Drax's sight. He wasn't ready yet to confront himself with the man he once called his friend.

Peter and the cat went below. Drax made small movements and moaned. He was about to come to his senses.