"Hey Ranger Rick, you have a mark on your shoulder," Quill says.

"What like a brand?" Rocket had always have known that he had a mark on his shoulder. It was something weird and he never exactly figured what it meant but seeing he escaped the Nursery, he isn't surprised if it was the GSHIWT's own brand onto his body. "It's probably my fur colouring." He shakes it off like he does for everything.

Quill's finger gently brushes on his shoulder, uncharacteristically quiet as he does. "It's not a brand."

An identification number then. Rocket wouldn't be surprised if it is one. Looking at the mark reminds him of the Nursery so he has never looked at it again since he left. "Like a logo?" he sneers, snatches his shoulder away and tries to slip his shirt on when Quill stops him.

"Rocket- this is a soulmark. Two of them."

Rocket has never heard of soulmarks, the only thing closest he has heard with soul attached to it is when he overheard Quill and Gamora discussing about their soulbond. "What like a mark of ownership?" Whatever a soulmark is, it sounds worse than having a brand.

"Look at it Rocket!"

"What for? Like I care what it says, I never could read it anyway."

Quill forcibly turns his head and holds it there while the universal translator kicks in. The garbled text shifts into something he understands.

I am Groot.

"What?" Rocket turns exceedingly slowly to Groot who had been standing in the corner. "How?"

Quill rolls up his sleeve and shows Rocket his own soul mark, a blue tangle of letters that says, 'what happened?' "Mine is blue because our soulbond is a romantic one, your's is black, the sign of a platonic soulbond."

"Soulbond? I thought you needed to do some kind of ritual to form a soulbond!"

"For a romantic one, yes. But for a platonic, you just need to press the words together and hold it there for awhile."

Rocket doesn't remember ever doing that and searches his memory for a memory. Groot who has been watching the whole scene says, "I am Groot."

"Seriously?" Rocket says. "That day when you pulled me out of the Nursery was when we bonded?" He growls angrily at Groot who only helplessly at him, "So we were never really friends. I always thought you were my friend. Not just tagging along because you were my soulbond!"

"Groot- I am Groot!" He motions unhappily before turning to Quill.

"Yea, I don't think it works that way Ranger Rick." Quill scratches the back of his head. "Soulmates are kinda like souls that are perfect for each other. There's been cases where soulmates are best friends for years without realizing that they were soulmates all along. You naturally click therefore you become more than friends."

Rocket scrutinizes them skeptically. "Let's assume I believe you. What does the other say?"

"Did he just repeat that?" He reads and purses his lips. "Does that mean Groot has one as well?"

"I am Groot." Groot motions to his left leg.

Rocket bends over, taking a good look at it. "Hi? I'm Agent Skye and you're?"

"Hey that's the same handwriting as yours."

"No shit, Quill."

"What's going on Rocket!?" Quill grabs onto the handlebar as the ship suddenly jerks to a stop.

Rocket furiously types onto the keyboard. Jaw clenching as he tries to overwrite the keyboard. The screen flashes and a video pops up.

"Rocket! We're going down!" Gamora yells.

"This is Agent Daisy. Unidentified spacecraft you have been found orbiting our planet, Earth. Terra. Midgard. By intergalactic, inter-realm laws, quote 422-04B, you are required to register your spacecraft at our base upon arrival of our orbit. Your spacecraft will be now brought into our space area."

The trio stares at where the video had been playing. "I didn't know Terra had an intergalactic office!" Gamora breaks into the stunned silence.

"Let's go orbit around Terra, I miss it!" Rocket mimics Quill as he tries to break free from whatever was dragging them down. "Whoever who did this hacking is one helluva hacker." He slumps against the keyboard.

"If Terra had an intergalactic office where were they when I got kidnapped!?"

The ship shudders to a stop and they hear the doors open. "Did you open it?"

"No. Why would I open it. No let's be great hosts and open doors to unknown people that don't even knock at the door. No you idiot. Of course I didn't open it!"

A head pops through the door, a Terrian female human glances across the room for resting on him and then Gamora. Behind her is followed by a taller Terrian male. She stands in the cockpit, unflustered by somewhat hostile gazes. Rocket thinks ignorance can be so blissful sometimes especially when she's staring so unwavering at Gamora whose hands seem to twitch at where her hidden knives are.

The terrian female doesn't even falter when she notices Groot stands at the doorway, watching them. Impressive nerves. Rocket has seen people gape at Groot even on planets where different planetarium lifeforms were common, Terra isn't used to other planet's lifeforms or at least according to Quill.

"Here," she thrusts at Gamora, "Just fill those forms out and it'd all be good. Do you have any additional life forms like plants and seeds that may or maybe not cultivated here? Those are prohibited and are required to stay on your ship at all times." She arches an eyebrow at Groot.

"I am Groot." He says to her. She purses her lips. regarding Groot with an unsettling light.

So she's not so much unlike the others, Rocket corrects his opinion of her and turns to Quill as he forces him to fill in a partial part of the huge stack of forms.

"Length of stay, how long are we staying?" Quill asks.

"Asks the man who said I miss Terra. Let's go visit Terra," Rocket huffs.

"Hi? I'm Agent Skye and you're?" She holds her hand to him, the three of them snap their heads back to the Terrian female and Groot. "Well technically Agent Daisy now"

"Did she just say what I think she said," Quill murmurs.

"I am Groot." Groot repeats.

She raises an eyebrow and turns to him, "Did he just repeat that?"

It really is an instinctive response. "Yes, his vocabulary is limited to 'I' and 'am' and 'Groot'. Exclusively in that order."

Her mouth freezes in a "O" and the Terrian male splutters in laughter. "You got a tree and a racoon for soulmates!"

No sooner had he said that, he found a knife at his throat and two guns at his face. "Do not call me a racoon."

"I call it as I see it!" he says, lifting his head higher as Gamora presses just a little more into his skin, drawing a thin line of blood.

Agent Skye palms her face. "Shut up Manifold. Do you really not have any sense of life perseverance on you?"

She crouches beside Rocket, "Hi, it seems like we're soulmates. Are you two…?"

"Platonic?" Rocket offers.

She smiles and nods, "Platonic is good with me. I'll release your ship now." She hovers on the keyboard, fingers running swiftly over it and with a jolt, the ship is no longer tethered to whatever it was tethered to.

"Hey! Wait a minute! You're the hacker that hacked into the ship?"

"Daisy's the best hacker on Earth." Manifold who still hasn't learnt to shut his mouth, yaps eagerly.

"Well, Rocket here is probably the best hacker in the galaxy. Actually kinda funny if you think about it. The two hackers together. It's like some huge Fate ass… fate." Quill chuckles. "So Rocket, length of stay, how long are we staying?"

A/N: Thanks for your reviews, follows and favourites! Remember to review! Nothing beats knowing what you thought of when you read this chp!

Also, find me at luna-orlha .tumblr .com