What's Behind the Curtain?

Chapter 3

Reagan

"Where do you think we can go?" Peter looked pointedly at me.

"Uh…I don't know. But not my place, if that's what you were suggesting,"

"Why…?"

"My parents would notice if there were five aliens in the house,"

"Oh…yeah…sorry. But is there some other place I could stay?"

"Where?"

"You know that kid you tasered? Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm guessing his parents will be at the hospital for…twelve to twenty-four hours, so you could probably stay there. Besides, it's right next to my house!"

"You guys are next door neighbors?"

"Yep. It's…weird."

"Okay then. How far is Sam's house?"

"Bout fifteen minutes."

"Where is Sam, anyway?" Peter asked me, glancing at the spot where Sam was before.

"I…actually don't know,"

"I'll go look for him." Peter started to go off the stage.

"Why?"

"Because it would be the right thing to do?"

"Says a thief," I grumbled.

"Hey, hey, hey! I'm a good guy, I just sometimes do bad things!" Peter protested.

"Fine. I believe you." Then something struck me. "Wait! No! You can't go out there!"

"I can't?" Peter looked at me, puzzled.

"You don't think you'll alarm the kids, and the authorities will question you?"

"I'm great with kids!"

"You might be, but someone else isn't," I said, glaring at Rocket.

"How was I supposed to know he was a kid?" Rocket said defensively.

"Apology accepted. But back to the subject, we need someone to go look for Sam. Probably one of us," I said, pointing to me. "A human."

"You keep forgetting I'm human too," Peter whined.

"Half human," I corrected.

"I take after my human side."

"I know."

"How?!"

"She's a stalker," Katie shouted from across the room, where she and Madison were climbing on Groot.

"I'm not a stalker!" I said blushing.

"Yes, you are," Katie replied.

"No, I'm not. I read comics!"

"Ladies, ladies, let's focus,"

"Yes, let's," I said, eager to change the subject.

"Okay. So I'll go look for Sam, and you guys...find some way to get the ship to Sam's house."

"I thought we established that you are not looking for Sam!" I cried.

"Well, there might be a way to get him to wake up, so..."

"That's what we don't want! Uh...that came out wrong. What I meant to say was, we want Sam awake, but if his parents come home...oh...one more problem...he has brothers." I gulped. "We might have to find another place to stay."

"That's no problem! We can just knock them out, too!" Rocket said, with a hint of cheerfulness in his voice.

"I agree with that," Katie offered, where she and Madison were picking flowers that Groot grew for them.

"Well, I do not, and I hope Peter doesn't either," I looked at Peter.

"Yeah. Reagan's right. No more knocking people out."

"Thank you. Now I have a plan." I said, cracking my knuckles. Or trying to.

Peter looked doubtful. "I have a better one."

"Mine is more than 12 percent."

"Plan away!"

…

I told them the plan. We decided to split up-Peter and I would go outside, since he was the most inconspicuous of the Guardians, and Madison, Katie, and Groot would search inside the building. Drax, Gamora, and Rocket (who were still inside the ship) would work on getting the ship to Sam's house.

"Do you think it was a good idea pairing your cuckoo friends with Groot?"

Madison was breaking little twigs off of Groot and stuffing them in her pockets. Katie was braiding some of Groot's vines. Groot seemed to be enjoying the attention.

"I'm gonna have a dozen baby Groots!" Madison squealed.

Katie hummed a Paramore song.

"It's fine." I waved my hand dismissively.

"If you say so. So, what is Sam like?"

Well. There's a lot I could say. "First off, annoying with a capital A. Other than that, athletic, competitive, and...I say this in the best way, but...short."

"Okay. I actually know someone exactly like that."

"I bet I can guess who."

We both grinned. "Yeah," we said in unison.

"Why do you want to know this, though?" I asked Peter.

"I dunno. I guess I feel kind of bad for him. Is he friends with you guys?"

Odd question. "No, not really."

"Then I feel less bad."

I pouted. "That's mean,"

Peter smirked. "It's the truth,"

"Very funny, Mr. Wise Guy."

"I actually think that's the least insulting insult I've ever gotten,"

"Yeah, cause I don't swear,"

"Yep. You're young."

"Movies and TV have ruined my life, then,"

"What?"

"You wouldn't believe the stuff they put in movies these days..."

"I bet I wouldn't. Hey, is that an exit?"

"No, the glowing sign that says 'exit' is just for decoration."

"Now who's being a wise guy."

"I walked into that one. Listen, when we go out, just hang back a little. Nobody can see you."

"Okay. So what are you going to do if you find Sam?"

"I'll call you, and then you pick him up and take him back to Rocket,"

That was part two of my master plan. We find Sam, and then Rocket uses some sweet alien tech to make a real-looking holographic double. I made sure this double could actually be touched, and would still have vital signs and stuff. Alien technology is cool.

"Deal. What percent of a plan is this, anyway?"

"A hundred percent, baby!" I spread my arms.

Peter laughed. He had a nice laugh. Not too loud, not too low, and-sorry, getting off track. "Good. Better than my plans. I take it you're classified as some sort of smart person?"

On the ball, Peter. "Yep. Sometimes I wonder if that's all people see me as."

"I can understand. I had those thought when I was a kid, too. Of course, I had a significantly different childhood, but-"

I held up a hand. "I get it. Ravagers."

"How'd you-"

"Movies, remember?"

"Oh. Right. It's so weird knowing that a ton of people pretty much know my life story."

"I can imagine. At least there wasn't a book. Cause if there were, then people would know your thoughts, too!"

Peter seemed to shudder at the thought. "Yeah. Hey, is that a body, or is it just me?" he said, pointing to what appeared to be a body. I squinted. Sweatshirt, sweatpants-yeah, that was Sam. And the only problem was that a line of kids stood in the way, and a teacher was looking at him.

Kaitlyn was standing in line. She must have chickened out of the whole 'We met the Guardians of the Galaxy' thing. I slowly crept up to her and blended into the line of kids. I motioned for Peter to stay back. "Hey!" I hissed at her. "What are you doing? Don't you want to help us?"

"I don't know, Reagan. This thing has gotten kind of scary."

"How are the Guardians of the Galaxy scary?"

"It was fun when we were talking about them and fanfictions and stuff, but now..."

Did I mention I write fanfictions?

"This is real! This is 10 gazillion times better! So, if you don't want to help us, that's fine, but I need to get to Sam now." I pushed past her and made my way to the teacher standing over Sam. I saw Peter leaning against the building, where miraculously, nobody had noticed him. I motioned for him to come over.

Dramatic as he was, and seeing that the teacher was female, he walked-no, swaggered over to where Sam was. "Hey," he said, suavely to the teacher, who's name was Ms. Leana.

Her eyes widened. "Who are you?" I couldn't tell if she was scared, or happy, or both.

"A friend." Peter replied, and winked. Wow, Peter, Just wow.

She didn't notice when I dragged Sam into the school, though. I tried motioning for Peter to come with me, and when that didn't work, I tried yelling to him, even though that got the attention of people. "PETER! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!" I yelled. I hope I didn't scare the kindergartners by using bad language.

He finally looked up, away from his new found teacher friend. "Oh-sorry." He smiled at the teacher. "Catch you later?"

"Okay!" Ms. Leana responded.

When he got over to where I was, I shook my head. "How do you get someone to like you in less than five minutes?"

Peter flipped his head. "It's the Peter charm."

"Must be," I grumbled. "Now let's get outta here."

…

We regrouped behind the curtain. Groot and his band of admirers had obviously found nothing, but Groot had returned with headdress of braided vines and flowers, a gift from Madison and Katie.

Rocket, Gamora, and Drax had succeeded in getting the Milano out of the hole in the stage. Rocket had prepared the tech we needed to make a double of Sam.

Peter carefully set Sam down. He had been carrying Sam slung across his shoulder.

Ten minutes later, the double was ready. So we were all set to get the double back outside to a fireman or someone, when Sam made a moaning noise. "Uh, guys, I think he's waking up," I said, stating the obvious. One of my many good qualities.

Sam didn't sit up, but he blinked hazily and mumbled, "Where-who are you?" He was staring up at Peter, who was looking at him worriedly.

Peter gestured to me. "Reagan, you want to explain?"

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