NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.

The next morning, Mikey waited eagerly for his new friends to come down to the cafeteria for breakfast, though he wouldn't sit at Drax's table. Since the confrontation that took place in the showers last night, things had been...tense between him and Drax, and his cellmate had been giving him the cold shoulder lately.

He smiled excitedly when the guys and the green lady went down the stairs and ran up to meet them. "Morning, dudes!"

Quill smiled and gave Mikey a friendly pat on the shell. "Hey, morning, little buddy." He turned to the green woman behind. "Mikey, this is Gamora. Gamora, this is Mikey."

Gamora smiled softly at Mikey and shook his hand. "Hello, Mikey. I want to thank you for coming to my aid last night."

"Heh, yeah, well," Mikey awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, "sorry about my cellmate's rude behavior last night. He was totally out of control."

"Hard to believe that meathead is your roommate," Rocket mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Drax isn't all bad. He's just...you know...sad and angry," Mikey said with sympathy. "I get where he's coming from."

"I Am Groot," Groot said to Rocket, who looked up at him in surprise.

"Let him in on the...? Oh, no!" the raccoon shook his head. "We got enough problems of our own! We ain't letting some lost kid tag along! 'Sides I'm not splitting the money with one more person!"

"He stopped that brute from tearing me apart," Gamora argued. "We owe him this much."

"Yeah, plus he's got a family to get back to," Quill said. "We can't just leave him here."

Mikey tilted his head in confusion. "Wait, what are you guys talking about?"

Quill glanced around the cafeteria cautiously before he looked at Mikey. "We're thinking up an escape plan," he quietly said.

Mikey instantly perked up and his eyes sparkled. "Really?!" he shouted.

Rocket harshly shushed him. "Shhh! Don't bring the attention of the entire frickin' prison to ourselves, moron."

The Turtle smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. So what's the plan?"

Rocket sighed and muttered something under his breath as they headed to the bar and picked up their trays of food. "If we're gonna get out of here, we're gonna need to get into that watchtower. And to do that, I'm gonna need a few things. The guards wear security bands to control their ins and outs. I need one."

Gamora nodded, eyeing a particular guard on a balcony. "Leave it to me."

A scrawny bald prisoner with a prosthetic leg limped pass the group and Rocket pointed to him. "That dude, there. I need his prosthetic leg."

Quill raised an eyebrow. "His leg?"

"Yeah. God knows I don't need the rest of him. Look at him, he's useless."

"...All right."

"And finally, on the wall back there is a black panel," Rocket pointed to the base of the watchtower. "Blinky yellow light. Do you see it?"

As they sat down at a table, they looked for the yellow light that Rocket was referring to and quickly spotted it. "Yeah," Quill said with a nod.

"There's a quarnyx battery behind it. Purplish box, green wires. To get into that watchtower, I definitely need it."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Gamora asked him.

As the rest of the group discussed the plan to get the battery, Mikey noticed that Groot was walking toward the watchtower and stretched his legs to make himself taller. He grinned and mentally rooted for the walking tree. Getting that battery was gonna be a piece of cake.

Just then Drax appeared and watched as Groot ripped the panel off the wall and tossed it aside, accidentally hitting a prisoner in the head with it. He slowly turned to Mikey for an explanation, and the Turtle pressed his finger to his lips, silently telling him not to make a scene.

Groot grabbed the battery and began to pull at it, stretching out the green wires that attached it to the wall.

"...everything is gonna slam into emergency mode," Mikey heard Rocket say, though he still focused on Groot. "Once we have it, we gotta move quickly, so you definitely need to get that last."

Mikey's eyes widened and he turned back to Rocket. "Wait, we need to get the battery last?"

"Yeah, that's what I just said," Rocket told him.

"...Uh-oh."

"'Uh-oh'? What-What does that-?"

The moment Groot tore the battery off the wall, most of the lights went out and the alarms blared. All of the other prisoners started to scramble in confusion, while Groot just stood there and showed his friends the battery in his hand with a proud smile.

Rocket rolled his eyes. "Or we could just get it first and improvise."

"I'll get the armband," Gamora said before she bolted from the table.

"Leg," Quill went in the opposite direction.

Rocket and Mikey were left at the table, and the raccoon groaned as he rubbed his temples. The Turtle chuckled nervously and got up. "My bad. I'm gonna go help Groot." He darted from the table and toward Groot, who looked at him with a confused expression. "We just made a huge mistake, tree-bro."

Groot tilted his head. "I Am Groot?"

Mikey nodded. "Yeah. We were supposed to wait and get the battery last."

Just then the security droids dashed into the cafeteria and surrounded the two, pulling out their guns. Mikey instinctively clutched onto Groot and gulped. Groot looked down at the young Turtle and could sense his growing fear. A protective instinct kicked in and he bravely faced the droids, branches sprouting from his back.

"Prisoners," the guard in the watchtower spoke to them through the speakers, "drop the device immediately and retreat to your cells or we will open fire."

Groot made himself taller and larger as even more branches grew from out of his body, which gave him an intimidating appearance. He stood protectively in front of Mikey and puffed out his chest. "I...AM...GROOOOOOOOT!" he roared defiantly.

"Fire!"

Immediately, the droids fired their guns at Groot and Mikey ducked, shielding his head with his arms. Groot grunted as his body was riddled with bullets but he didn't feel any pain at all. In fact, for him, it could be compared to mosquito bites. He whacked a droid away then another.

Mikey decided to help Groot fight them off and jumped onto a droid, which started to spin round and round in confusion. He jumped off right before it smashed into the wall and exploded. With his trademark battlecry, he leapt high into the air and kicked a couple of droids. Whenever they fired at him, he'd quickly dodge the bullets and roll away, ducking behind the nearest table.

At one point he ran straight into a droid, which pointed its guns at him. But before it could fire, Drax grabbed it from behind and smashed it with his bare hands.

"Drax!" Mikey smiled widely at his cellmate. "Man, am I glad to see you, dude- DUCK!"

Drax quickly obeyed and Mikey leapt right over his head, high-kicking another droid. Several guards charged right at them, and the warrior and the ninja fought side-by-side, taking them down one by one. Mikey grinned during the entire battle. It felt so good to kick butt again, especially with a pal.

"You fight impressively!" Drax yelled to him, head-butting a guard and knocking him out.

The Turtle blushed a little, flattered by that compliment. "Thanks!"

"Move to the watchtower!" he heard Rocket yell. He turned around and saw the raccoon riding on top of Groot, who was walking toward the watchtower. Groot stretched himself again, both elevating Rocket and providing ladders for the others.

"Drax, let's go!" Mikey motioned for him to follow as he climbed up one of Groot's legs to the watchtower. Gamora and Rocket helped him onboard with Quill following close behind and they all marched into the control room, where the unsuspecting guard slowly turned around in his chair and put his hands up in surrender.

Groot suddenly grabbed the guard with his vines and threw him out of the watchtower. The poor guy screamed as he fell and a sickening thud was heard, indicating that he hit the floor. Mikey stared at Groot in shock with his mouth agape.

"Eh, he'll be fine," Rocket told him with a shrug as he climbed into the main chair.

Just then Drax stepped into the room, and while Mikey was glad to see him, Gamora was rather displeased. Drax didn't like the way Gamora was looking at him. "Spare me your foul gaze, woman!" he barked.

Gamora turned to Quill. "Why is this one here?" she demanded.

"We promised him he could stay by your side until he kills your boss," Quill explained. "I always keep my promises when they're to muscle-bound whack-jobs who will kill me if I don't. Here you go," he handed Rocket the prosthetic leg.

Rocket looked at the leg and started to chuckle. "Oh, I was just kidding about the leg."

Quill was outraged. "What?!"

"No, I thought it'd be funny. Was it funny? Oh, wait, what did he look like hopping around?"

"I had to transfer him 30,000 units!"

Rocket only shook his head and snickered.

"Dude, you're such a troll," Mikey said but he was smiling.

Drax looked at him weird. "A troll? He looks more like a rat than a troll." He glanced at the droids that surrounded the watchtower outside. "How are we going to leave?"

Just then a droid opened fire at one of the windows, but thankfully the glass was bulletproof. Quill flinched at the sound and sparks. "Well, he's got a plan." He turned to Rocket, who was pushing some buttons. "Right? Or is that another thing you made up?"

"I have a plan! I have a plan!" Rocket told him as he continued to work.

"Cease your yammering and relieve us from this irksome confinement," Drax gruffly said.

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with the walking thesaurus on that one," Quill mumbled.

Drax looked at him offended. "Do not ever call me a thesaurus," he growled.

"It's just a metaphor, dude," Quill tried to explain.

"His people are completely literal," Rocket informed him. "Metaphors are gonna go over his head."

"Nothing goes over my head," Drax proclaimed proudly. "My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it.'

Mikey spotted something familiar sticking under the desk and picked it off. In between his thumb and finger was a lump of used gum. "Aw, sweet! They got gum in here!" To Quill's shock and disgust, the Turtle plopped it into his mouth.

"Aw, dude!" the human looked away and tried not to gag. "Seriously?!"

"What?" Mikey questioned, making gross smacking sounds as he chewed.

Gamora shook her head and mumbled, "I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy."

Meanwhile, more Nova guards appeared with large guns in their arms. They all aimed at at the watchtower and prepared to fire.

Quill gulped. "Those are some big guns."

The head riot guard stood by and barked orders to his men. "ON MY COMMAND! NUMBER ONE!" A guard fired a single shot, which actually left a large crack in one of the windows.

The fugitives knew that they were running out of time.

"Rodent, we are ready for your plan," Gamora urgently told Rocket.

"Hold on!" the raccoon snapped, trying his best to stay calm as he worked with the computers.

"NUMBER TWO!"

BOOM!

A blast hit the window next to Quill, who could feel the heat of the explosion even from behind the glass.

"I recognize this animal," Drax said, referring to Rocket. "We'd roast him over a flame pit as children. Their flesh was quite delicious."

"NOT HELPING!" Rocket screamed, glaring back at him.

"NUMBER THREE!"

The next blast left an even bigger crack, which began to expand and a single chip of glass popped off.

"Rocket..." Mikey whimpered.

"ALL FIRE ON MY COMMAND!" the head riot guard began to count down. "THREE!"

Rocket grunted as he pulled a few wires from out of a panel.

"TWO!"

Everyone in the watchtower braced themselves, including Mikey, who began to pull his head back into his shell.

"ONE!"

Just as the head guard finished counting, Rocket connected two wires and loud whirring sound followed. All of the guards outside suddenly started to float and lost their grip on their weapons. Even the prisoners, who had been confined to their cells, were lifted off their feet and floated around like goldfish in a bowl.

Only Mikey and the others in the watchtower were unaffected. "Whoa, what'd you just do?" the Turtle whispered in amazement.

"He turned off the artificial gravity," Gamora grinned, impressed by the raccon's genius. "Everywhere but in here."

Rocket pulled on a lever, and the entire watchtower disconnected itself from the base, floating towards the ceiling. He punched in some codes on the computer and all of the security droids gathered around and connected themselves to the watchtower, flying it out of the cafeteria.

"I told you I had a plan," Rocket smugly stated.

A guard smashed into the front window like a bug as they headed for one of the corridors, groaning as he slowly slid off.

"This thing come with wipers?" Mikey joked, still chewing on his gum.

The watchtower made it into the narrow passageway but roughly bumped against the walls, and everyone inside was nearly tossed around and had to hold onto to something. When they finally came to a complete stop, Rocket pressed a button to lock the doors of corridor shut.

"That was a pretty good plan," Quill told Rocket, then he heard Mikey groaning. He turned to see the Turtle sticking his tongue out and holding his stomach. "What's up with you?"

"I just swallowed my gum," Mikey told him.

Everyone quickly gathered up their clothes and personal belongings that had been stored away. Mikey found the chest that contained his stuff and smiled in satisfaction as he held his good old nunchucks and fondly kissed them. "Oh, I missed you guys." He took off his yellow pants and put his gear, belt, and orange mask back on.

"Wait," Rocket stared at him as he got dressed in his casual outfit. "You mean you don't wear any pants at all? You just walk around naked like that?"

"Don't need any pants, dude," Mikey told him with a shrug. "'Cause I don't need any pockets. The belt is all I need to carry my stuff with." He patted the nunchucks that were tucked into his belt.

The raccoon scoffed and shook his head. "And people think I'm an animal," he muttered.

Then Mikey turned to see Quill saying something to Gamora before hurrying out of the room. "Hey, wait, where's he going?" he asked her.

Gamora sighed heavily and grabbed her stuff. "He went to go retrieve something. We need to hurry to his ship. Go!"

...

Quill's ship, the Milano, was a pretty cool ship. Not as awesome as the Ulixes, but still pretty cool. They were already outside the Kyln waiting for Quill to return, but Rocket, who was piloting the ship, was growing restless and impatient.

"Well, how's he gonna get to us?!" he asked Gamora.

"He declined to share that information with me," she said.

"Well, screw this then! I ain't waiting around for some humie with a death wish."

"Hey, hold up!" Mikey ran up to Rocket's chair and shook it. "We can't just leave him! Let's give him five more minutes!"

"We ain't got five more minutes! It's either him or us!" Rocket looked behind him at Gamora. "You have the Orb, right?"

"Yes," Gamora picked up her bag and searched for something in it.

"Orb?" Mikey raised an eye ridge. "What Orb?"

But Gamora never answered him and seemed distressed when she couldn't find what she was looking for. She tossed the bag aside in frustration. "He has it with him."

"What?!" Rocket shouted angrily before he kicked the control console. "Sh**!"

Mikey scratched his head in confusion and looked between Gamora and Rocket. "So, uh, I guess this means we'll have to wait for Quill anyway?"

"No, we can't wait!" Rocket snapped. "If we don't leave now, we will be blown to bits!"

"NO!" Gamora shouted. "We're not leaving without the Orb!"

Just then Drax, who was sitting in the chair opposite to Rocket's, spotted something outside his window. "Behold!" he said, catching the others' attention.

Flying straight toward them in his rockets boots was Quill, himself, now dressed in a red jacket and wearing some kind of really cool breathing mask over his face.

Mikey smiled widely and pressed his hands against the window. "He made it!"

...

Gamora, Mikey, and Drax all greeted Quill as he climbed back into the ship through an airlock.

"This one shows spirit," Drax praised him as he helped him in. "He shall make a keen ally in the battle against Ronan. Companion, what were you retrieving?"

"Yeah, dude," Mikey joined in, beaming up at his human friend. "Show us!"

Quill handed Mikey something before walking off. The Turtle studied the object in his hands and realized that it was just a simple old-fashioned Walkman. He looked over at Quill in total disbelief. "Seriously, dude? A Walkman? These things are totally outdated."

"Tell me, what is this 'Walkman'?" Drax asked Mikey. "Is it a weapon? One that could be used against Ronan?"

"No way, dude," Mikey handed the cassette player over to him. "You just listen to music with it."

Drax stared down at the Walkman then up at Quill, who just shrugged his shoulders. "You're an imbecile."

...

After using the ship's restroom, Mikey could hear Rocket and Quill arguing in the common area and stepped inside. Quill was standing over Rocket, who sitting on the floor amongst all kinds of gadgets. Gamora was casually leaning against the wall while Drax sat on a cushioned bench, polishing a knife.

"That's for if things get really hardcore," Rocket said to Quill with a mischievous grin as he pointed to a large device. "Or if you wanna blow up moons."

"Huh?" Mikey's eyes bugged out. "We're blowing up moons now?"

"No one's blowing up moons," Gamora told both him and Rocket.

"You just wanna suck the joy out of everything," Rocket glumly mumbled as he tinkered with his gadgets.

"You got issues, man," Mikey told the tigger-happy raccoon.

"Yeah? Well, at least I don't run around naked and eat someone else's used gum," Rocket sassed.

Mikey pouted and stuck his tongue out at him.

Quill walked over to a large screen and punched in some numbers. "So, listen," he glanced over at Gamora, "I'm gonna need your buyer's coordinates."

"We're heading in the right direction," Gamora held what appeared to be the Orb in her hand, "for now."

Quill turned to face her and crossed his arms. "If we're gonna work together, you might want to try trusting me a little bit."

"And how much do you trust me?"

He snatched the Orb out of her hand. "I'd trust you a lot more if you told me what this was. Because I'm guessing it's some kind of weapon." He then placed it on the table.

Gamora glanced to the side. "I don't know what it is."

"Wait," Mikey walked over to the table and poked at the strange ball. "You mean you don't even know what's inside? What if it's an egg and you're stealing it from some ginormous mama-monster?" He gulped, remembering the last time he and his bros unwittingly stole an egg on some strange planet.

"If it's a weapon," Drax picked up the Orb, "we should use it against Ronan."

Gamora immediately confronted him. "Put it down, you fool! You'll destroy us all."

"Or just you, murderess!" Drax spat.

Mikey rolled his eyes and groaned. "Here we go again."

"I let you live once, princess!" Gamora was now nearly nose to nose with Drax.

"I AM NOT A PRINCESS!" Drax yelled angrily.

Thankfully, Quill broke them up before things got ugly again. "HEY! NOBODY! Is killing anybody on my ship! We're stuck together until we get the money."

"I have no interest in money," Drax growled, handing the Orb back to Quill before he walked out of the room.

"Right," Mikey sighed, watching him leave. "'Cause all he wants is to kill this Ronan guy. But I'm with him; I don't care about the money. I just wanna find my bros so that we can get back to Earth as soon as possible."

Gamora approached him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We know. And as soon as we deliver the Orb, we'll help you find them."

"Hey, speak for yourself!" Rocket said. "As soon as Groot and I get our share, we're heading straight for Contraxia to get ourselves a little action." He glanced over at Mikey and winked. "Heh. If you know what I mean."

"Yeah, and as much as I really want to help you," Quill flashed a sympathetic grin, "I'm already having to deal with the Ravagers chasing after me. So...can't help you either. But, if it'll make you feel better, we can give you your share so that you can buy a ship."

"Dude, I don't even know how to fly a ship," Mikey mumbled sadly, looking down at his feet.

"Don't worry," Gamora softly said. "I'll help you find your family if they won't." She casted a nasty dirty at Quill before she gave Mikey a pat on the shell. "Go get some rest. I'll tell the buyer we're on our way. And Quill...your ship is filthy."

Mikey chuckled as Gamora went up the stairs. "She totally sounds like a Mom. If she only saw my room."

"Oh, yeah?" Quill smirked. "If I had a black light, this place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting."

Mikey, being the innocent and slightly naive Turtle that he was, didn't get Quill's perverted joke and looked at him confused.

But Rocket did, and the raccoon looked at the human in disgust and shook his head. "You got issues, Quill."

...

Mikey groaned as he tossed and turned in Quill's bunk. He couldn't get himself comfortable and he was extremely exhausted from all the action at the Kyln.

Just then he heard heavy footsteps and flipped over to see Goot standing next to him.

"Oh, hey, Groot," Mikey greeted him with a tired smile and a yawn.

Groot noticed the dark circles under Mikey's eyes and became worried. "I Am Groot?"

"Yeah, I can't sleep," Mikey laid his head back down on the pillow. "This bunk is too hard."

Groot pondered for a moment before he got an idea and extended his arms into vines, attaching them to the ceiling and walls. Mikey watched in awe as his tree friend made a huge nest with a bed made out of green leaves.

He then picked Mikey up and helped him into the nest. When the Turtle laid himself down on the leaves, he sighed blissfully at the cushion they provided. "Yeah, this is more like it," he whispered as he closed his eyes. "Thanks, Groot."

As Mikey went to sleep, Groot sat down on a bunk and kept watch. He smiled fondly at the young Turtle, having grown attached to him.

Just then Quill walked in and his jaw dropped at what Groot had done to his personal sleeping area. "Dude! What did you to my-?!"

"Shh," Groot shushed him, pointing to the now sleeping Mikey, who nuzzled the soft leaves with a blissful smile on his face.

Quill sighed softly and walked away. The sooner they deliver the Orb, the better.