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03 – Guardians : 1
fugly creatures : 0

Back on the bridge, Drax and Gamora were becoming restless. The sounds that were coming through the comm systems and from down under were upsetting; as there was no doubt that their friends were facing grave danger and were on the verge of losing their lives.

"We should go help them. We are both trained and accomplished warriors and I am certain that our skills combined can overcome our not being able to see those creatures." Drax said tersely, his eyes not leaving the hatch beneath them.

"I want to agree with you, I really do," Gamora answered, a slight catch in her voice betraying how worried she was. "But Peter is right. If we go in there blind, we will only distract him and Groot from the danger and get us all killed."

Drax huffed in frustration. "We cannot stay here and do nothing! How can we call ourselves decent warriors if we hide ourselves in cowardice while our friends fight for our lives only a few feet away from us?"

"This is not cowardice, Drax!" Gamora all but shouted at him. "I am as angry at the situation as you are. I hate that we can't do anything for now, I do!" She suppressed an urge to punch something and turned her back on him, trying to control her breathing and regain a semblance of calm.

She was angry, yes, but most of all she was beyond scared. Not about dying or having to fight creatures she couldn't see. No. She was terrified of loosing Groot and Peter. After nearly a year of living together and fighting side by side, they all had loosen up a bit, allowed themselves to care and being taken care of. Drax's overwhelming thirst for vengeance had decreased and he had naturally taken a fatherly role in the team, showing astonishing cooking skills and unexpected wisdom. Rocket had started to open up a little about his past, as his nightmares had receded from an almost daily recurrence to an occasional one. She liked to sit in her corner of the ship and watch him build intricate machines, mostly bombs, in companionable silence. Also, him and Peter bantering about almost everything was as funny and entertaining as it was annoying. And she finally had reached some level of acceptance about her past, finding balance in doing (mostly) good for once, saving lives and helping people all across the Galaxy.

Groot and Peter were different from the other three. If her, Drax and Rocket were slowly getting used to not being alone anymore and seeing their poor social skills improve in consequence, it was mainly because of Groot' sweet innocence and Peter's infectious joie de vivre. They were the glue holding all of them together.

When Groot was still in his pot, slowly growing up, they all took care of him like they would have of a child. Rocket turned into a mamma bear, to use Peter's odd turn of phrase. But they bonded over it, and Groot became the team's offspring even if he was now taller than them and much more murderous when needed.

And no matter what happened to the team, how hurt or down they were, Peter always found a way to lighten the mood with a joke, his beloved music or an inspirational speech. He had reminded her how to laugh, taught her dancing and singing. When they were alone on the bridge, looking at the stars above them, he would tell her about his mom or about his time with the Ravagers, good or bad. Sometimes, when he felt she was in a sharing mood, he would ask about her life before Thanos and she would always answer. It had taken her by surprise the first time, but it felt good to remember her family, tell stories about them and allow them to live in the memories she had suppressed for so long. He never asked about what happened to her after That Day. He just knew to wait for her to open up and she did, little by little and only to him. She never really gave thought to what their relationship was or what he really meant to her, but she needed him in her life nonetheless.

She was interrupted in her train of thoughts by Rocket' sudden cry of victory. He emerged from under the control panel with a triumphant attitude, whiskers twitching and eyes sparkling. He jumped on the panel, pushed a button and all the lights in the room went out. One of the screens flickered and illuminated all the glass windows above them with an eerie dark light. They all looked up as one.

"Well, shit." Gamora usually didn't swear, but what she was seeing warranted a little profanity. The outside world had turned all shades of black and gray thanks to whatever Rocket had done, and the creatures were now visible through the windshield, all bright white contrasting against the black sky. They were everywhere as far as she could see, swarming on the fuselage like vermin on garbage.

"Quill's right, they're flarkin' ugly," Rocket mused. "Never seen anything like this. Don't wanna see anything like this again, so let's fry 'em all?" He looked at both his teammates, his eyes gleaming with murderous intelligence.

"I sure wouldn't mind not having to look at those atrocious creatures anymore, and you seem to know what you are doing, my friend." Drax said.

The raccoon smiled and hit several buttons at the same time. "No freakin' idea, big guy." He pushed one last switch and jumped off of the console, enjoining his friends to step backwards a little. The engines rumbled, made a high pitch sound then a powerful wave of electrical energy spread on the ship's fuselage as the disruptor shield deployed itself with some Rocket-made modifications. The three guardians watched in awe the creatures getting hit simultaneously by a flash of almost blinding white light and drop like flies.

Deciding the things looked dead enough for his taste, Rocket reactivated his communicator to pass information to Peter. "Hey, Quill! Use the non lethal electricity streaks of your blaster against the thingies, it should work!"

The former Ravager was currently back to back with Groot, surrounded by about fifteen hungry looking creatures. At least twice more were lying dead or dying at their feet. It was like the more they killed those things, the more they kept coming, and he didn't understand how it was possible.

"What!? Blaster doesn't work on kill mode, why would it on stun mode?" He shouted, slashing his dagger at another jumping beast. He had discovered that their lower abdomen was also vulnerable and much easier to catch, but wounding them here didn't kill them. Still, it slowed them down enough.

"I don't have time to explain laws of physics to you, you dimwit! Just do it!"

Peter huffed and reached for his blaster with his left hand. He lowered his eyes a few seconds to find it as it wasn't in its usual place and two creatures took advantage of his momentary distraction to pounce on him, sending him into Groot and making them loose balance. They landed in a tangled mass of limbs and vines and the monsters didn't miss a beat, charging all at once, all fangs and claws out. Groot shielded both of them the best he could, creating an intricate structure of wood around them, while Peter started firing his blaster to dislodge a creature gnawing on his leg.

He let out an odd noise, between a giggle and a maniacal laugh, when he realized the lightening shot had actually worked and fired eagerly at every creature coming into his line of sight. Soon, he and Groot were able to get on their feet again and slowly made their way through the never-ending flow of monsters, shooting at them and dismembering them, until they finally reached the airtight door leading to the lower levels and the docking bay. Peter kept firing, covering them and giving Groot some leeway to grab the door, shut it and make sure it was firmly locked.

Still high on adrenalin, Peter turned back and shot at every corpse lying on the ground, even if its head was a few feet away from the rest of its body; just to make sure they were really, really dead. Then he leant against the nearest wall he could find and let himself slide down, legs sprawled out and arms dangling on his sides, trying hard to catch his breath.

Groot wandered in the room for a short moment, looking like a lost soul, then bent over and picked up his torn out right arm from under one of the cadavers. He made a pained, sad sound and sat down in front of his friend, cradling his limb against his grazed chest. They looked at each other, dazed and confused, and Peter finally found the strength to reach for his comm. He also deactivated his mask as it was starting to make him feel claustrophobic.

"Hey team," he said, still a little out of breath. "I think that part of the ship is clean, so to speak… If you want to come down and help search for whatever Rocket needs to make those damn goggles."

Up in the cockpit, the three other guardians sighed in relief. Not wasting any more time, Gamora jumped down the hatch just as Drax had finished open it and did a double take at the scene displaying before her eyes.

"Yeah, they become visible when they're dead, don't ask me why." Peter's tired voice came from her left, as if he was reading her mind.

She approached him cautiously, stepping over an amazing amount of dead bodies, her eyes roaming over his disheveled appearance looking for any obvious injury. She crouched by his side hesitantly, not knowing where to touch him. "Are you hurt?"

He smiled lazily at her, then looked down on himself and shrugged. He was covered in gore from head to toe and the rotting smell was overwhelming, but other than a few scrapes and ruined clothes, he was miraculously unharmed. "These were my favorite pants..."

Gamora snorted. If he could complain about his pants, then he was sound enough. "All your pants look the same."

Peter gave her a short laugh. "Yeah, but still. They resisted these jaws," he said, pointing at the nearest dead creature. He got back on his feet with a little help, took a deep breath and gagged at the stink coming from him. "I think I'll have to burn my clothes."

"We'll have to burn the whole ship to get rid of that smell!" exclaimed Rocket as his sensitive nose got assaulted by the stench of decay coming from the creatures. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna barf."

"Please restrain yourself from doing so; we do not need the smell of your vomit in addition to that of putrefaction." Drax added solemnly. He took an appreciative look at the pile of dead bodies covering the ground. "You both fought bravely. I am proud to call you my friends."

Rocket was taking care of Groot, who was still mourning his lost arm even if it was already growing back. "How are you unscathed when Groot's missing bark and a limb?" He said, a bit more harshly than necessary. It was hard for him to be sympathetic to others when it came to Groot.

Understandably, Peter took a little offense. "Hey! I fought as much as him. They just attacked him more, maybe because they've never seen a living tree before, or because he killed the first one, I don't know. Plus, I remind you that my limbs don't grow back; I have to be a little more cautious with them than him."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The raccoon closed the discussion, knowing that Peter was right and being dangerously close to having to make excuses. He loved his friends, and even if he didn't show it by being all mushy and talkative about his feelings, they knew. He'd die for them, and that was pretty much saying everything, since before them he only would have given his shitty life for Groot.

Truth was, Quill had grown on him very quickly, faster that he would have thought possible for a (half) human. The guy was the only being in the universe to match his salty and quirky sense of humor and that was refreshing, stimulating even, especially when they engaged in prank wars. He had to surrender more than he would like to admit, as the terran was relentless. He also bonded with Gamora over the whole having been tortured viciously with body modifications thing, and Drax was actually not dumb at all, just intense in everything he did or believed in. Plus, the big guy made the most delicious gnuur stew he ever had the pleasure to eat.

"Okay," Peter changed subjects, knowing when to bury the hatchet. "So, what do you need for the, you know, specs-making thing?"

"Oh, I won't have to build goggles. Bring me our spacesuits, I'll find the rest myself."