Music always played an important role in Peter's life. No more proof was that than the man's beloved Walkman cassette player and tape deck in the Milano. Peter had a song to fit every mood. He had songs that made him happy, songs that made him feel better when he was down (and most importantly, songs that were perfect when he was indulging in his inner playboy). If he wasn't a former thief and a current Guardian of the Galaxy, the Terran could have been an intergalactic disk jockey, happily sharing the wonders of music throughout the far corners of space!
His team mates knew about the deep connection that their leader had to music, specifically the cassette tapes called Awesome Mix Vol. 1 and 2. Those collections of songs from the 1970s and 1980s held a special place in Peter's heart; they were the songs his late mother loved to listen to before she passed away from cancer. It also served as a reminder of his humble beginnings from Earth, a way for Peter to reconnect with his childhood. Drax, Rocket and Groot knew all the songs by heart and even enjoyed the strange noises from the many musicians coming from the speakers of the spaceship.
But what was once a wonderful activity that the team had used to bond over was now a source of annoyance for the aliens. Growing tired of hearing the same songs on repeat for days on end, Peter's friends sat him down and expressed their newly formed dislike of the tapes.
"I know they mean a lot to you, Peter. But I can say for all of us that we've had it up to here listening to Awesome Mix Vol. 1 and 2 over and over…" Rocket said.
"I must agree with friend Rocket. I long to hear other types of music." added Drax.
"I am Groot." said Groot, frowning.
"But the radio sucks, big time!" whined Peter. When he wasn't in the mood to use the ship's tape deck or his Walkman, Peter would turn on the radio and scan through the stations to find music as good as his tapes. More often than not, the music was disappointing and udder crap.
"Don't care. If I have to hear that Jackson 5 song one more time…BLAM! The tape deck is dead!" Rocket shouted as he mimicked firing a gun at the music player.
"If you so much as touch my cassette player, furball." Peter threatened the raccoon, shaking a balled up fist at the small animal.
"Perhaps we can find an alternate solution. Do you have any other tapes we can listen to?" Drax suggested.
"Not really. Whatever I had got destroyed when the first Milano was blown-up during our fight with Ronan."
So an agreement wasn't met. While the other men continued to suffer through another play through of Awesome Mix Vol. 1, the young Gamora was not at all bothered the soundtrack. The little girl was captivated by Peter's interesting method of listening to music.
"This is such old technology. It's amazing!" she said as the child sat on Peter's bed looking at the vintage tape deck as it played the cassette.
"I'm glad I found someone who appreciates my music as much as I do." The thief said, directing his displeasure to the others.
"Can you play that song about falling in love again? That is my favorite one from Vol. 1." Gamora requested.
Peter smiled and fast forward the tape to "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" by Elvin Bishop. As the classic blues jam came out of the speakers, Peter remembered that when he first met the elder Gamora, this was the first song he let her listen to from his Walkman. It was also the first time that his swagger didn't charm the pants off a woman. The romantic moment between the then active assassin and thief was cut short when Gamora came to her senses and shoved Peter away, all while spitting hateful comments at him.
While his horndog side was upset he didn't get to bed the sexy woman, Peter later realized that when the adult Gamora didn't accept his sexual advances, it made the Terran develop a true attraction to her. The woman's bold, straight-forward personality made Peter rightfully want to earn her hand and heart.
For now, Peter watched as the seven year old swayed slightly to the beat, her eyes closed and a smile on her face from the joy of the music being played. Seeing her happy was the only thing that mattered to him now, though fixing the hyperdrive was important too.
The Milano docked at another trading post several days later to refuel and restock supplies. Before he left, Peter checked the list of parts that the machine stilled needed to be fixed and working once more. It appeared that only two parts where left to find and the port the heroes where now at had them in stock!
He volunteered to go search for them and took Gamora with him. As the two made their way to where the mechanic's stall was located in the markets, the little girl's attention was drawn to another tent that displayed an assortment of mismatched electronics.
"Peter, look! I see a cassette player like yours on the ship."
Peter hated when Gamora called him by his surname and told her it was fine to use his first name when the youngster needed to address him. Gamora liked this new moniker, as it deepened the thief and the girl's bond with one another. He even suggested that "Pete" was OK too, but the girl's strict upbringing from Thanos made sure she was always on her best behavior.
"Really?" He caught a glimpse at the stereo that Gamora was pointing at. Peter's eyes widened in surprise and gasped with joy. It wasn't just a normal tape deck: it was a double cassette tape deck! They were extremely rare to come by and Peter had always wanted one. The purpose of the double tape deck was not only the ability to play two cassettes, but you could also create your own mix tapes by recording from one tape to another!
The man sped over to the tent so fast that the little girl almost lost sight of him! She was able to catch up with Peter just as he reached the store counter.
"How much for the double tape deck?!" Peter exclaimed, nearly frightening the seller to death due to his excitement.
"My, my! Aren't we an excitable boy!" the alien merchant proclaimed as he adjusted his four-spectacle glasses on his squash-shaped head in order to read the price tag. "I'm currently selling this Terran artifact for…160,000 credits."
Peter huffed in irritation. "Forget it! That's way outta my price range! Unless we can make a deal of some sort." He let a sly look appear on his face. One of the benefits of being raised by a group of thieves was that it developed Peter's talent for having a way with words; a silver tongue was needed when it came to bartering and trading for goods and essential for surviving out in the seedier parts of space.
The dark tangerine alien grinned with delight at the game Peter had introduced before him. "Ah, I can see you are playing hardball with me now. Perhaps I can offer some speakers to go along with the machine for 150,500 credits."
"Nah. I already have speakers. Got anything else?"
"Surely there is something in my booth that has sparked your interest, good sir." The seller then saw the juvenile Gamora standing next to Peter. "Is there anything the young lady here likes?"
Gamora scanned the merchant's booth and saw a black briefcase near where the tape deck was. "What's in the case?" she inquired.
The merchant pulled back the clasps and opened the case so that both Peter and the girl could see what was inside. It was filled with many different Terran cassette tapes by various musical groups and artists from the 1970s, 80s and even the 1990s. This was perfect to solve the tension between Peter and his team mates' concerns about the music situation on the spaceship!
"Peter, I want this!" Gamora told him as she looked over the tapes with interest.
"A fine choice!" the salesman said. He then calculated the prices of the both the tape deck and cassette collection. "My offer for both items is 150,300 credits."
"How can I be sure you're not ripping me off and selling me cheap knock-offs? Can you play one of the tapes for us?" Peter demanded.
"I am a man of my word and assure you that my merchandise is one hundred percent authentic Terran." The merchant was trying to weasel out of showing the authenticity of the dated technology.
"Then the deal's off. No proof, no credits." Peter glared at the nerdy, pudgy alien as he crossed his arms over his chest. Gamora followed suit and had the same annoyed expression as Peter.
The oily smile disappeared from the salesman's face. "As you wish."
He set up the tape deck and hooked up the speakers he tried to sell Peter before. When the machine powered up, the alien selected a tape from the case and placed it into the music player. Upon pressing the play button, the stereo began to play back "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" by Warren Zevon in crystal clear sound. Smiling, this was more than enough proof for Peter that the objects where working properly. The merchant then stopped the tape and turned to the Terran once more.
"Are you still interested in this old technology?"
"You better believe it! Name your price!"
"Like I said; 150,300 credits."
"Can't you go any lower? I gotta eat, ya know." Peter pointed out.
"So do I! I can lower the price to 140,950 for both items and that's it."
Peter didn't want to give into temptation. He really didn't need the double tape deck, but the briefcase of cassette tapes where worth this detour in search of the hyperdrive components. Plus, a quick glance saw a few albums that made Peter reminisce of home. Just as he was about to make an offer for the tape collection, Gamora spoke.
"If you throw in that weirdly shaped box and those bulky tapes, you got a deal!"
"What are you doing?!" Peter hissed at the child. "That VCR costs just as much as the tape deck!"
"I'm trying my hand at having a silver-colored tongue like you, Peter." Gamora explained. "Plus, I am a kid after all; maybe I can get you a lower price." She gave him a playful wink.
The hero felt a stress headache coming on and rubbed his temples. The last thing Peter wanted to do was spend extra money when it wasn't necessary. He still needed to have some money left over to buy those hyperdrive core parts!
The seller saw that the little girl wanted to include the VCR and several video tapes in their purchase.
"I like this little girl's gusto!" the man laughed in amusement. "Your new total is an even 150,000 credits."
"140,500!" Gamora told the merchant.
"140,550." The alien countered.
"140,525."
Peter could only watch in shock as the juvenile former assassin was trading prices with the dorky, fat salesman. When a few more numbers were bounced back and forth, the alien burst out laughing once more.
"Oh, I haven't had this fun bartering over money in years! Your daughter will make an excellent trader someday, sir!"
"Uh, thank you?" said Peter, still unsure of what to make of the situation that had just happened.
"Alright, I give in. 120,350 credits for the Terran tape deck and cassette collection, plus the video player and video tapes."
"Is that a fair price, Peter?" the child asked him.
It was better than fair, it was a steal! "Sold!" he said and handed the merchant the credits.
"Thank you for your purchase! Have a pleasant day!" the salesman said as he waved them good-bye when Peter and Gamora left the tent.
Peter was carrying the double tape deck and VCR with Gamora holding onto a shopping bag that contained the video and cassette tapes.
"I gotta say, I'm impressed, Gamora. You handled bartering with that geeky salesman nicely!"
"Thank you. Is my tongue silver now?" the little girl asked, sticking her pink appendage out at Peter.
He laughed. "No, sweetie. When I say that you have a silver tongue, it means you are good with words and their meanings. Your actual tongue doesn't turn the color silver."
Gamora giggled. "It would be rather silly to have a silver-colored tongue, I like my tongue the way it is." She stated and smiled at the man.
When they arrived back at the Milano, the rest of the guardians had just returned from running their own errands when Peter presented the double tape deck to them.
"What in the hell did you buy now, Peter?!" Rocket yelled at how extremely happy the thief was over his find.
"I've been looking for one of these for a long time. Gentlemen, may I present the double cassette tape deck!"
"Great, more ways to annoy us with your crappy mix tapes…" the raccoon grumbled.
"But there's more! I did a good job bartering and got this too!" the youngster pulled out the briefcase from her shopping bag and opened it up to show all the cassette tapes inside.
"Finally! Something other than your over-played tapes Pete!" the small animal proclaimed, very much relieved at the possible new music he could enjoy listening to.
"We also got something called 'VCR' that plays video tapes." Gamora also said. "I wonder if we can connect it to the monitor?"
"I don't think so, but I think Rocket has something in his workshop that could work." Peter reminded his friend of the old TV set that they fished out of a junk pile during a mission awhile back. The TV still worked and Rocket wanted it for spare parts (if he could find anything compatible with the dated electronics the TV was made out of). But now that they had acquired a VCR, that old TV set could be hooked up to it.
Drax carried the heavy bulky object from Rocket's workshop and placed it on the circled table in the common room. After successfully connecting the VCR to the TV and into a compatible electrical outlet, Peter turned on the TV set and the VCR. The screen popped on and showed a snowy channel and hummed a low feedback noise.
"Now to turn to Channel 3 and insert a video tape and we're good to go!" He prided himself at the very common knowledge any child of the 1980s knew. Peter let the little girl pick a video tape to play in the VCR and pushed the play button after loading the tape into the video player.
The group made themselves comfortable on the couch as the video began to play. On the TV screen, a woman with big, pastel pink hair dressed in garish clothing from the decade of Peter's childhood appeared and was singing with her equally, horribly dressed band mates at a rock concert to a sold-out crowd.
"Jem is truly outrageous/Truly, Truly, Truly Outrageous!" the female voice over sang over the cartoon.
"You can say that again." Rocket quipped as his squinted his eyes in study at the over the top designs of the characters. "And this is what you used to watch as a kid on Terra, Pete?"
"No way! I liked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Thundercats, not this girly crap!"
"QUIET!" Gamora angrily scolded at Peter and Rocket. "I want to watch Jem and see why she is 'truly outrageous'!"
"Yes, just how outrageous this brightly colored woman and her companions are has yet to be seen." Drax added, becoming invested in the 1985 cartoon as much as his young team-mate was.
"I am Groot." The tall tree said.
As Drax, Groot and Gamora continued to watch the video; Rocket asked Peter if he remembered to go buy the hyperdrive core parts. The thief's nervous look was more than enough proof for the raccoon that the man had completely forgotten to look for them. With a hard smack to Peter's skull, Rocket demanded his get his ass in gear and go back to the markets and buy the parts before all the store closed for the night.
"Alright, Alright. Chill the fuck out, furball." Peter said sternly as he dashed out the door. When he returned to the spaceship with the last replacements for the core, Peter tossed the bag containing them so harshly at Rocket with such force that it almost knocked the cranky animal over!
"There, happy now?!"
"Very. Thank you very much, Quill." Rocket said; straightening his vest before marching off to the engine room.
Peter scowled over just how smug Rocket had acted just now. Still, the mangy critter should be happy now that he had the final pieces to fix the malfunction core. Suddenly, a new worry entered Peter's thoughts. Once Rocket had all the replacement parts in the hyperdrive, how long was it going to be before they could use it and get Gamora back to her normal self?