I'm nowhere near finished, but I wanted to take the time to say thanks to everyone for all the great reviews and positivity. I am having a tone of fun writing this story.
The Kree got sarcasm. There was no reason Mar-Vell couldn't hear it in Yondu's voice, and yet the effect the question had on him... it might as well have been sincere.
Yondu felt some of his own fury fade as he watched the Kree Captain's face grow lined and weary. He really hated coms sometimes; he couldn't read people over them, but his old friend was like an open book. Something was seriously wrong.
"I have no words for an enemy of the Kree," Mar-Vell said gravely. "You are to be arrested and brought before the Accusers."
Yondu's eyes narrowed. "This about me joining the Ravagers?" he growled. "They're a neutral faction, Vell. You know I want no part in your war-"
"Then explain to me why you and your... Ravagers attacked one of the most important research facilities in the Empire!" Mar-Vell had a dangerous edge to his voice, but his eyes held genuine curiosity. "I vouched for you, and you cost my people years worth of scientific advancement."
Next to Yondu, Trelzar looked down and fidgeted for a moment before taking several steps back. He was one of the few members of the crew who were around back then, and he knew what his Captain could get like when folks brought up that raid.
Only Yondu stayed eerily calm. "Didn't think they'd ever admit that place exists," he said, his voice sharp and cold. "Your brass tell you why I was there? They tell you what we found? What they were doing?"
He grinned wickedly when he saw the doubt on Mar-Vell's face. "Didn't think so." He paused, and dropped the facade. "Why are you here, Vell? This station don't mean shit to anybody and you sure as hell didn't invade Xandarian space for my sorry hide."
"Enough of this," said the Kree. He looked off screen and back. "Surrender yourself Yondu," he pleaded. "Perhaps something can be done."
Yondu hunched his shoulders, glared, and growled, "You know that ain't happening."
Mar-Vell closed his eyes, and when they opened again he was an emotionless Kree warlord. "Then this is the last time we speak."
The line ended.
A minute passed and the only sounds were of the distant battle. Trelzar looked up to find his Captain standing there, still as a stone. He worked up the nerve and said, "Captain?"
Yondu's head snapped up and he turned to the mechanic. His red eyes were dull and distant.
"What do we do now?"
He took a deep breath and he was back in the present. Using the emergency line, he hailed his crew. As long as they had their coms on them, they'd hear his orders. "Boys, this is your Captain speaking. I'm sure by now you've all noticed the Kree Warship that so graciously shot down our Galleon. Well it turns out they think they're gonna bury us along with this rock!" He laughed in a mocking tone he didn't feel. "Tell you what. We are gonna teach those tar-faced morons why nobody crosses the Ravagers!" He dropped his voice into a low, icy tone. "I want that warship taken down, and I want every Kree and Sakaaran on this station deader then a Badoon on a Monday. Make me proud, boys."
As he watched, he saw a change in the flight patterns of the Ravager ships; instead of flying around randomly, picking off skiffs, they moved into a loose formation and headed for the warship.
The Ravagers were a surprisingly old organization, and their ships were custom designed over generations. Between that and the fact that they regularily dropped fortunes on upgrades and tuning, they had one of the fastest and most versatile fleets in the Galaxy.
They could certainly give one smaller classed Kree warship a run for its money.
Satisfied, Yondu turned to Trelzar and said, "See if you can't cut one of the Big Guns out of the hold. Call some of the boys if you need to."
He himself planned on keeping Quill safe and riding this out. The Nova Corps were bound to have called in the cavalry, and once the rest of the Xandarian military showed up the battle would be over. One more old friend would be dead...
Yondu might not like dealing with the Corps very much, but there were only a couple of his men who had arrest warrants, and with helping protect the station, he could probably negotiate them out of trouble.
He whistled the arrow back and caught it, the Yaka was warm in his hand. He went to grab Quill, but when he stepped around the wreckage... he froze.
The Terran was gone.
He didn't bother calling out. His skin was crawling, his heart was pounding, and his crest was itching like crazy. The boy didn't run.
Something took him.
Yondu's grip tightened on his arrow as he closed his eyes, bared his teeth, and concentrated everything he had on his crest. He didn't care if Trelzar saw the radiating glow, he needed to find that kid.
If this was a forest, he could have felt every living thing for miles, but on the mostly lifeless rock, his range was pitiful. All he got was the faintest trace of Quill's brilliance from somewhere in the direction of the city. He took off running, his focus narrowing until Yondu the hard assed, bobble loving Captain of the Ravagers was non-existent.
He was Yondu the Hunter, and there was something he needed to kill.
When he reached the first low, rickety buildings, a group of Sakaarans who were running by started shooting at him. He let go of his arrow and whistled it through their heads.
The streets were a chaotic symphony of Ravagers, random outlaws, locals, and enemy soldiers, all shooting and screaming and dying. He didn't have time for this...
His crest was meant to be used in short bursts, and the concentration and energy required to keep himself going like this was quickly going to exhaust him. He had to find the kid quickly, before he collapsed.
Yondu was able to avoid most of the battle by skirting down alleys, jumping onto ledges, balancing deft along roofs and walls, and always moving in the same direction.
There was too much around him, though. So much rage, and fear, and death that it became a hollow din against his skull. He tuned it all out... ignored the danger.
Which is why he didn't notice the Necro-Cannon being aimed at him by a Sakaaran sniper.
The blast exploded next to him, and the next thing he knew, Yondu was on the ground, his body stunned and his ears ringing. His back was hot. There was a plasma-like residue eating through his jacket, so he shrugged it off and and tossed it aside.
A very small amount of the superheated matter made it through around his right shoulder and side. It burned through his shirt and started into his skin, but he didn't matter
He didn't feel it.
The hunter's deadly eyes zeroed in on the Sakaaran. The sniper took aim, readied another shot, but with a long, high note, he never got a chance.
Yondu fought back to his feet and called his arrow back. He was getting close.
That was good.
He wasn't going to last much longer.
He barely remembered the rest of the journey, but he finally he skidded around a corner and into a dark, covered alley. After the battlefield that was the city, it was secluded and eerily quiet.
Quill was down there with the thing he kept sensing. He could tell it was there, but it was odd... he couldn't get a bead on it at all. Either it was almost completely robotic, or it was a life-form evolved so far beyond him that he couldn't connect with it.
He slowed down and eased his senses. There was only the three of them now. His breath was coming in wheezing gasps and his vision was starting to blur, but he forced himself on.
Almost there...
Had to protect Quill...
The alley opened into a small courtyard surrounded by apartments. The people who lived there had tried to make it nice, and the resulting garden was a surreal thing to come upon on a dusty space station. There was a little, willowy tree, a fountain, two benches... the battle above could barely be seen in the space between the buildings. On one of the benches lay an unconscious Peter Quill.
Yondu stopped. Even in his sorry state, he knew better then to charge into an open space. He mustered up a flash of his crest and located the thing lurking in the shadows. He gave a trill and his arrow struck true... only there was no scream, no thud of a body, no flash of pain across his battered senses.
A figure stepped into the garden.
It was a man; tall, built like an Asguardian, clad in polished armour that was blacker then the space between the stars. Golden cloth cascaded from the shoulders in two strips... like wings. The man's face was barely visible, but he had pale skin, and a pair of luminous eyes shining from beneath the shadow of his helm.
He held up the Yaka arrow, his hand unburned by its radiation.
Yondu felt sick. He was mentally exhausted, his anxiety was out of his control, and he was finally feeling the agony spreading across his back. He shuddered and tried whistling again... and again.
The arrow glowed, but it had no effect against the stranger's armour. The man took it in both hands and slowly applied pressure until it started to bend.
Yondu's heart stopped and he put his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't... don't break that. Please... I'll stop..."
The stranger let up and tilted his head. In a disarmingly familiar voice, he said, "So there are still things you care about, Yondu Udonta?"
Yondu stared. It was starting to get hard to breath, but he forced himself to focus. "We supposed to know each other?"
"Not at this point, my friend." The man smiled. "But we will."
"You a time traveller?" Struggling to process the strange statement, Yondu sighed and leaned his uninjured shoulder against the cool alley wall. "I don't get involved with that shit."
"I know, and I'm not... at least not in that way."
"Then what the hell are you?" Yondu snapped, frustrated.
The man regarded the arrow in his hand as he said, "I am The One Who knows."
Yondu's eyes widened in recognition and his breath hitched. "You?!" He pushed his weight back onto his feet and stumbled towards the man. "You... you..."
He smiled kindly. "I'm pleased you remember our correspondence." He took Yondu's arm in his free hand and gently, but firmly lead him to the empty bench. Once Yondu was seated, he handed back the arrow and said, "Did that facility have what you were looking for?"
Yondu clutched his weapon to his chest. "You bastard!" he spat. "I found 'em all right. My people... the Kree were..." He shivered. "There was only one left, barely alive after what they done to her. She'd been there almost her whole life! Couldn't remember her own name! She..."
Yondu's voice broke and his eyes shone with tears that refused to fall as he stared at the bit of metal in his trembling hands. "She died in my arms. The last of my own I've seen, and I don't even know her name..."
A hand settled on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
It was quickly shrugged off.
"You're sorry?!" Yondu bared his teeth and his eyes narrowed to pin pricks. "You're supposed to be 'Mr Know-It-All' ain't ya? You couldn't have told me your little tip before I went traipsing across the Galaxy?! I coulda saved them! I wouldn't be-"
"No," the man cut in. "It could only happen as it happened. I am sorry."
Yondu glared and slowly shook his head, but he didn't have the strength left to stay furious and there wouldn't be a point with someone like this. He sagged, bowed his head, pressed his arrow against his brow. "What do you want?" he asked miserably.
"I want only to ease your burden, my friend." There was that hand again, resting on his shoulder.
Yondu chuckled darkly. "You gonna kill me?"
"Is that what you want?"
"No," he seethed. Why the hell would someone think he wanted to die? he'd be dead, and then what?
The infernal man was smiling again as he backed away and turned to Quill.
"You keep away from him!" Yondu tried to stand, but didn't quite manage it. His back was on fire now and he was shaking and sweating. He couldn't use his arrow on this guy, couldn't fight, couldn't do anything...
"Star-Lord only sleeps, and I will not harm him."
Taking a couple of deep breaths to steady himself, Yondu said, "How did you..."
"I am the One Who Knows," the stranger answered simply. His expression grew sombre "I came here to tell you that when you bring the boy to his father, what he is now... will die" His heavy gaze returned to the Centaurion. "But you already knew that."
Yondu's chest tightened. Yeah... he knew; had known from the first night, when he examined the boy. "So what? I'm supposed to care about one little Terran? There's six billion more just like him back on that dirt pile."
"I know what you stand to gain, but do you really think you can sacrifice a child for something that may or may not exist?"
Yondu tightened his grip on his arrow like he was trying to strangle it. "You've got no idea what I'm capable of," he rasped out in a quiet, dangerous tone.
But the man only smiled that infuriatingly proud smile. "On the contrary. I have watched you walk this path countless times, and you have never gone through with it." He let that linger for a moment before saying, "You're not a monster, Yondu, no matter how hard you try."
Yondu was numb. If his back wasn't lancing with white-hot pain, he might have thought he was dead. He didn't know what the hell this nut job was talking about, but it felt the truth; a truth that meant he'd never see another of his kind again. He couldn't accept that.
It must have shown on his face, because his new friend sighed. "Of course, in the end the choice is yours." The stranger looked up to the narrow strip of sky. "The battle is ending, and Star-Lord will soon awaken. You should see a doctor."
The strips of golden cloth on his back lifted and took shape, glittering with light. They were solar sails... wing for flying through the depths of space. He lifted off at an impossible speed and was gone.
Yondu was left alone with his thoughts, only he couldn't think. The pain, the exhaustion, the everything; it was all too much. He wiped a hand across his sweat covered face and holstered his arrow. The struggle to his feet made him gasp and hiss and curse, but he managed it.
He shuffled across the garden and shook the boy.
"Come on Quill... get your ass up."