"It's like they don't trust me," Peter paced on the bridge of his ship as Gamora sat stoically sharpening her sword with the whetstone in her hand.
She looked up at Peter with a piercing glare that she usually reserved for her enemies, "I can't imagine why," she said flatly.
"I can understand the princess, but Hawkeye? After all, I am a guy's guy."
"Perhaps he doesn't enjoy that sort of thing," Gamora arched an eyebrow.
Peter pursed his lips sourly, "and you think I do?"
Gamora smiled. She never looked up from her work, and swiped her thumb across the blade. Peter pulled a face.
"How can you tell when it's sharp enough?" he changed the subject quickly, and Gamora looked up at him, her expression never changed.
"It draws blood," Gamora said flatly.
"You and the Lady will probably get along," he shrugged, "but why is she out here instead of being a high roller on Asgard?"
She looked back at her work and continued to sharpen her sword, "Loki is a political dissenter and criminal on Asgard," she said, "the Royals may have welcomed him back into the fold, but only because he managed to save the universe against all odds."
"When was this?"
"You don't pay any attention to the Tertabursts, do you?"
Peter sat down next to her, "what should we do about them? I'm sure we can fetch a good price for them."
"How very righteous of you," she scraped her thumb against the blade again.
"What do we do about them then, in your opinion?"
She looked back up, "the Avengers will never pay, and if Loki finds out she is our captive, he will tear us apart."
"So?"
"I think we should take them home," Gamora answered.
"Are you feeling alright?"
The blade drew blood and she wiped her thumb on a towel by her side, "I know of the Avengers. Thanos used Loki to attack the Earth to get control of the Tesseract. Six Avengers destroyed the entire Chitauri army," the corners of her mouth twisted downward, "with the Avengers and Loki against us, we can't beat them."
"Fine," he spat the word like a child.
"I am Groot."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm about to tell 'em, Groot," Peter spun in his seat to face Rocket, "we've caught wind of some new intel you should know about," he said, "Thanos is on the move."
"Gamora will track him from here."
"I will?" she asked, "I will."
"I have something else I need you to do, Rocket."
A figure short in stature entered next, dressed in a small vest and pants with tools and weapons hanging off his tiny form. He was furry with cute little ears and a bushy tail and Bella smiled at the small figure, mostly because she was unsure of what else she could do. Another larger figure closely behind, tall and gangly, and looked at them with big, curious eyes, and gave them a dazzling smile.
"Where's the party?"
Hawkeye nudged her, "He's a raccoon," Hawkeye said to her with wide eyes.
Bella narrowed her eyes and scowled, "Congratulations, you have mastered the art of recognizing simple shapes. You truly have the eyes of the Hawk."
"He's a raccoon," Hawkeye ignored her snide remark.
Bella rolled her eyes and sighed, "I gathered."
"I'm right here you know."
"Bella," he looked at her, "he's a raccoon."
"I am Groot."
Bella narrowed her eyes, "I thought you'd be more worried about the ten foot tall tree dude, but I could be wrong," she shrugged.
The raccoon grinned at her, "I guess by your superior smarts, you must be the Lady Isabella?"
"You're a raccoon," she said, "but I support your life choice."
"I am Groot."
"I'm not xenophobic, I married an alien." Bella shrugged. Hawkeye let out a loud sigh and went back to cleaning his bow as he had done for over an hour, "what's Quill's problem? Repeated questioning to trip me up, what's that about?"
He laughed slightly, "He's always like that. Name's Rocket." he approached her and she extended her metal arm out to him and he examined it closely, "Impressive tech for secondary life forms."
"Secondary life forms?" Hawkeye snapped.
"Older planets mean older life forms, try to keep up," Bella said flatly, then she smiled, "Bella, by the way, Cutie."
Rocket's ears pricked up for a moment in what could be almost considered a look of confusion. In the end, he chose to ignore her remarks, "These circuits are a mess," he said, poking into it further, "what broke it?"
Bella shrugged her other shoulder, "the ground kinda broke it when I landed on that stupid planet."
Rocket buried his head in electronics, "stoopid dirt."
"I am Groot."
Bella looked up at the tree, "Hi, Groot."
"Did I accidentally overdose on crack and Strychnine last night?"
"Hawkeye, this is hardly the weirdest thing you've seen."
"And that bothers me."
"You'll need a new arm, Princess."
"You can do that?"
"I am Groot."
"Thanks," Bella glanced at Rocket, "he said I'm the smartest guy he knows."
"And if the tree says it, it must be true," Hawkeye replied snidely.
"And I bet you never mention it."