Chapter 7.
This is the seventh chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
The Orgoscope, OrgoCorp HQ…
The Bowie emerged from its final jump and stopped as the Orgoscope, Headquarters of OrgoCorp, hovered into view. Mark, standing on the left side of the right-hand side pilot seat (Groot piloting in the left seat), looked out the viewport as the multi-coloured structure which looked like an eye surrounded by rings. His mind was on other things: Remembering where he came from. A teenager on Earth who was kidnapped and had his soul transferred to the body of an enhanced Dog. He'd learned a while back that the ones who did that to him were a gang of black-market geneticists/dealers, and he's sometimes felt that if he hadn't escaped, he'd had either ended up as a slave or a test subject or a conscripted soldier who'd been brainwashed. He'd also learned that they had been arrested (which is what they all went to deal with while he got out) that day he escaped, so sometimes he wondered what would have happened to him if he hadn't escaped, but he was still glad he did. "It's bio-formed. Instead of being built, its grown from living matter. The structure is surrounded by three impenetrable plasmatic security shields. It's not going to be easy to break into this place, Star-Lord." Nebula explained, as Mark turned around and began walking out of the cockpit.
"Doesn't have to be easy. I was a professional thief, remember? I'll jam the signals one at a time." He heard Quill's voice as he walked down the corridor. "She calls me Star-Lord when she's mad at me." He heard Quill again as he followed the voices and found him with Drax and Mantis in an engineering room. "She's always mad… at everyone." Mantis spoke as he entered, hearing the sounds of steam hissing metal clanking as he saw Quill and Mantis working on one of the machines. "It's because I was drunk. She's right. I hadn't been drinking… maybe Rocket…. 'm sorry." Quill muttered, as Mark walk between the machines and faced the trio ahead of him. "It wasn't your fault, Quill. Drunk or sober, I don't think it would've have made much of a difference. It doesn't matter now. What happened happened. It's in the past. Just focus on the now." Mark spoke wisely, Quill looking leftwards at him for a second, acknowledged his presence and looked down at what he was doing again. "It's okay. He's your best friend." Mantis said. "Second best friend." Drax spoke, eating a bag of Zarg-Nuts. "Best friend to all of us, more like. Including me." Mark spoke, taking a few steps forwards, getting closer to Quill's left. "Everyone around me dies. My mother, Yondu, Gamora." Quill muttered sadly. "Gamora isn't dead." Mantis replied. "She is to us." Mark and Drax both said at the same time. "You want a Zarg-Nut?" Drax asked, offering the bag in his left hand to Quill. "Thank you." Quill replied softly and took one out and ate it. Drax then moved his left arm leftwards and downwards towards Mark, who nodded slightly and took one out and ate it, seeing a yellow glow turn green in front of Quill. "First shield set." Quill said into the comms he had. "Three, two, one." Nebula's voice came over the ship's PA, then the lights flickered for a few seconds, then went back to normal, showing it had worked. Mark followed Quill and Mantis around to the other side of the machinery. "Peter." Mantis spoke. "What?" Quill asked. "You have family on Earth and you never wanted to go back to them?" Mantis asked him, as she and Quill started working on the machinery, Mark on Mantis left. "No, you're my sister. That's all the family I want or need. Besides, it was really just my grandpa, okay? He was a pretty hard guy." Quill answered, Mark had a feeling about where this conversation was going. "Still, don't you think he…" Mantis began saying, before Quill looked at her. "What?" He asked before looking at the machinery again. "You were abducted by Ravagers the same day he lost his daughter. Mantis spoke, Mark thinking she had a point. "Oh, yeah, he was upset. My mom died, he screamed in my face, he pushed me out of the room! Quill replied. "Just like you, he was in grief." Mark spoke. "Yeah, He was probably just trying to protect you." Mantis spoke. "What are you two talking about?" Quill asked her. "What?" Mantis asked back, confused, Mark raising an eyebrow. "I'm talking about the people in my life who died, and you're both talking about this. Second shield set." Quill said. "Three, two, one." Nebula's voice announced again before the lights flickered again as they went through. "I'm only saying you've never even gone to see if he's okay. He could still be alive," Mantis explained, as they walked around to another set of machinery. "My grandpa? He'd be like, 90 something years old." Quill said back. "So he could be still alive. Maybe like you, he blipped, so…" Mark spoke, standing in front of by Drax. "People on Earth die when they're like 50." Quill spoke. "They die when they're 50?" Mantis asked in surprise. "I don't know, something like that." Quill replied. "1988, yes. Some do now. But now your more able to live longer." Mark explained, hoping to defuse things a little. "What's even the point of being born?" Mantis asked. "Exactly!" Quill spoke back, Mark rolling his eyes, as things weren't defused. "Are you about to die?" Mantis asked, which made Quill and Mark look at her. "I'm not 50!" Quill yelled. "Yeah, he's, like, 40 something. Hang on. 2026, that's 26 years, 100 minus 80, that's 1980, that's 20 years, so 26 plus 20, minus 5, that's…41 years of age." Mark said back, having quietly muttered the calculation he just did, taking into account Quill's birth year and the 5 years he blipped.
Peter turned his head rightwards/downwards to face Mark. "Thank you! And on the subject of families… what about you, Mark? You never went back to Earth to see your family before they died." Quill said, which made Mark narrow his eyes and look at him sternly. "That was different. They committed suicide. And yes, I admit, they did so because I didn't go back, but that was because I was different. I couldn't go back with the body of a Dog, they'd have freaked out, and also because we were busy being Guardians." Mark replied sternly. Quill then went back to working the machinery. "The point is, I wasn't talking about any of this. Third shield set." Quill said into the comms after doing his work. "Three, two, one." Nebula's voice announced as Quill began walking out of the room, Mantis, Mark and Drax following him. "Well, not everything is what you want to talk about. I'm only saying you are upset because so many of the people you cared about have left you. But you also left someone. And maybe I wanted a Zarg-Nut!" Mantis spoke, saying the last sentence at Drax, they group now gathered in a lift, Mark on Drax's right, on and Quill and Mantis's left, in between them. "Too late. They're all gone." Drax replied, but a few seconds later, he took the last one out of the bag and ate it. Mark shook his head as the lift stopped. Suddenly strange sounds filled Mark's ears, filling him with a mixture of confusion and worry. "Why didn't we go through?" Quill asked into the comms, as Mark took off down the hallway towards the main corridor, ran halfway down it until he had a good view through the cockpit viewport. "We did. It's not the shield." He heard Nebula say as he stopped, hearing the others behind him. They had company. Through the viewport was a bunch of ships and a man in a glowing suit and space helmet in front of them. "Oh, hell. Ravagers." He heard Quill say, Mark noticing the irony of how a minute ago they mentioned the Ravagers and now they were here. "Hey, guys. Your about to be boarded by the United Ravagers. You can surrender and turn over any stuff worth anything and live or you can die. Totes up to you." A robotic feminine voice announced over the ship's PA, Mark hearing the sounds of clanking coming from the ship's hull, before he heard a whooshing sound and saw behind Quill an orange portal opening up, a red snake like alien coming out of it, opening more portals by its sides as it kept moving, Ravagers stepping out of the portals and down the corridor. Mar ran to join the others the thrusted his front paw arms up into the air. He heard footsteps coming from his left, looked leftwards to see more Ravagers coming down the left hallway, making him moved in front of Quill's legs, front paws still up. Then he heard more footsteps coming from above them, turned rightwards and looked upward to see more Ravagers coming down the stairs. They were everywhere! Drax looked down the corridor and started to charge, but Quill held out his right arm, holding him back, Mark stepping aside to be on Quill's rear left as the man moved. "Guys, it's me! Peter Quill! I'm one of you remember?" Quill asked, still holding Drax. "Hold on! We have an appointment!" Nebula called, Mark hearing her and Groot run towards them from the cockpit. "We have an appointment." Quill repeated. "With who?" One of the Ravagers, with a face that looked like it was made of ice asked. "With Gamora." Nebula answered, the mention of that name made Mark narrow his eyes in confusion "With Gamora." Quill repeated, before he turned around leftwards to face Nebula. "What?" He asked in confusion, to no response. "Your early." A voice Mark recognised all too well, as he widened his eyes, looked leftwards in the direction the voice came from and saw that green skinned woman that voice belonged to come out from the Ravagers. He never thought he'd see her again as Nebula and then Gamora let out a grunt of acknowledgement which he barely registered through his shock. But he could only imagine what Quill was thinking/feeling.
A few minutes later, they were gathered outside the toilets where one of the Ravagers started handing them each a red suit, Mark being on Drax's left. "What are these?" Drax asked, as Mark was handed a suit of his size, taking it with his right front paw. "OrgoCorp uniforms. You're gonna have to wear these to move through the Orgo without attracting attention." The Ravager they have seen out in space explained. "This isn't my colour." Drax spoke, causing the man to turn around and walk up to him. "What did you say?" The man asked. "It clashes with my eyes." Drax answered, causing the other Ravagers in the room to laugh. "Put it on!" The man snapped at Drax, as Quill walked over to Nebula. "Nebula, why would you not tell me you've been in contact with Gamora?" Quill asked. "Because I didn't want you to get freaked out." Nebula, which Mark felt was the obvious answer. "Freaked out how?" Quill asked, his voice high pitched. "Like that?" Nebula answered, which Mark felt was obvious again, as he moved past Nebula and Quill, as she went into a stall, while Mark walked into a gap in the room faced the wall. "Gamora, we are grateful for your help." He heard Mantis spoke from one of the stalls. "Oh, I'm not doing this out of the kindness of my heart. I'm doing this for the 100,000 Units my sister promised." Gamora said back. "Of course, she's in it in return for something, being a Ravager mercenary." Mark thought in his head as he undid his belt (which he had gotten back to his quarters while they were setting Rocket up in the med-bay back on Knowhere, and for some reason, something in his gut had told him to go to Rocket's quarters and brought his gravity boots) and threw it on the floor to his right. He drowned out hearing a conversation between Quill and Gamora, as he believed it was just a waste of time, as he pulled his shirt over his head and body with both front-, his fur providing some modesty against his 'nude' body. "Orgocorp is in possession of some of the most advanced cybernetic IP in the galaxy, so they're heavily guarded by the deadly Orgo-Sentries. Now, I know you don't have documentation to dock, so you're gonna have to get in there on your own. Once in, Gamora is gonna lead you to the records, where maybe you can find the passkey to override the kill switch and help you save the hedgehog. But if you get into trouble, we will not be able to bail you out." The man explained, as Mark, feeling that the help they have provided already was sufficient, held the uniform up in front of him with both front paws and then opened it up with his left front paw, then began put on the suit.
A few minutes later, with the others (except Groot, who was staying on board) suited up, they went to one of the airlocks and put on spacesuits, Mark putting on a brown one, with a custom-made helmet for his Dog face (the glass being extended outward in a bulge, slightly bigger than his muzzle so he could talk, and the helmet having triangle shaped pointed bulges for his pointy ears, and with an extension in the for his tail), gloves and boots modified for his paws. They then all faced the doors (Mark in between Mantis and Nebula) and they opened, Quill (in a yellow suit) playing some rather good music. They leapt out and began floating towards the Orgoscope. Mark was not as experienced with space walking as he'd like to have been, but he did have enough for this simple instance. They drifted towards on the rings. "There. That's the decompression chamber." Gamora explained, (in a blue suit) pointing someone of the ring wither right arm. "Lock in." Quill ordered. Mark then pointed his right front arm at the area, pressed with his left front paw a button on the right front paw glove, with activated a red laser, the thrusters on the back of his suit adjusting. "Go." Quill ordered, before the thrusters on his suit fired up, Mark's firing up, making him move towards the ring. Mark headed to where his laser was aimed at, turned his body 180 degrees, so his hind legs instead of his aimed, and landed on the rather squishy, fleshy, surface with both hind legs, bending them as he impacted, then began doing leaps like the others, still in between Quill and Nebula (in a green suit). "Activate gravity boots and gloves." Quill ordered, Mark pressing another button on his right forearm, then instantly he bent his upper body, and pressed with his right front paw a button by his left boot, which pulled him downwards onto the surface. Watching the others do the same, he moved alongside Drax (in a red suit), before he moved behind him and got in between him and Mantis (in an orange suit). "Nebula, go." Quill ordered, before Mark watched Nebula reform her robotic right hand into a laser, then she bent down onto her legs and started cutting a whole in the surface, causing yellow bubbles to float off from where she was cutting, Gamora getting down on her legs as well to keep out of the bubbles, Quill then bending down onto his legs a few seconds later.
"So, you really don't remember anything? Bout your time with us. We were… You and me… We loved each other. I know you don't remember any of it. You were everything to me. And I miss you… so much. And, maybe… maybe, if you open yourself up to it, there's a possibility… Quill. Well, what I'm trying to say…" Mark heard Quill say to Gamora, which bored/annoyed hm a bit, which made him fold his arms, was just about to say something when Mantis spoke out. "Peter, you know this is an open line, right?" She asked him. "What?" Quill asked, confused. "We can hear everything you're saying." Mark answered, his arms still folded. "And it is painful." Drax added. "And you're just telling me now?" Quill asked, rather frustrated. "We were hoping it would stop on its own." Nebula explained, Mark had rather hoped that Gamora would put a stop to it. "But I switched it over to private!" Quill exclaimed, pointing to the coloured buttons on his right forearm (black, green, brown, yellow, orange, grey, red, blue). "What colour button did you push?" Mantis asked him. "Blue! For the blue suit!" Quill said back. "Oh, no." Drax moaned, as Mark rolled his eyes. "It doesn't work that way, Quill." Mark explained. "Blue is the open line for everyone." Nebula added. "Orange is for blue." Mantis explained. "What?" Quill asked, confused again. "Black is for orange, brown is for green, green is for brown, grey is for green, and red is for yellow." Mantis explained. "No. Yellow is for yellow, green is for red, red is for green." Drax spoke. "I don't think so." Mantis replied. "Try it then." Drax said back, before she did so. A second or two later, Quill then moved his head upwards, his hands up to his helmet, his face showing agony. "How the hell am I supposed to know all of that?" Quill asked. "Seems intuitive." Drax replied, while Mark was getting bored of this conversation. "Can we get back to saving our friend?" Nebula snapped, which shut the others up. "Get that jammer ready to change the shield." She said to Quill, who pulled from the back of his suit the device with his right hand. Nebula then reformed her right arm into a hand with a circle beneath it, attached it to the middle of the hole she made, and pulled the fleshy section out, more bubbles flying out as Quill rapidly got down and rushed his right arm down the hole, and Mark saw the orange light at the end of the hole turn purple-pink, indicating it worked. Nebula went first, followed by Gamora. Mark went after Mantis and Quill, head first, and went through the shield and floated around a bit. "Guys?" He heard Drax ask, which made him turn around to see he was stuck in the hole. Rolling his eyes, he floated over to above Gamora and Drax, his face pointing at the rear of Drax's helmet, his hind legs bent against the wall, as he grabbed Drax's shoulders with both paw-hands. After a second, he moved, then again, and then they got his right arm out, which Nebula and Gamora grabbed to pull him out, Mark letting go, as he floated upwards off the wall after Drax. He floated leftwards against the left-hand side wall, saw Quill, who'd made the shield orange again, kick ush himself off the wall, then floated towards the large eye above the door, being kept open by white machinery surrounding it, Mark assuming it as like a security camera, as Quill placed the jammer on the eyes left side, presumable affecting it so they weren't seen. Nebula floated over to where two buttons were located, pressed the bottom one, and the artificial gravity kicked in, making them all fall to the floor, Mark falling on his stomach, his front arms held out, his muzzle parallel to the ground. He quickly got up on his hind legs and took off his helmet with both paw-hands. "Hurry." Drax spoke, as he got his helmet off, and he, Mark and the others pulled their spacesuits off as quickly as possible, Mark somehow being a bit quicker than everyone else. "Where do we put these?" Drax asked as he got his off. "Here! Hide them in this locker until we leave." Mantis suggested, opening up the grey door of the white bulging chamber by her. Mark ran over to it and got on her left as she put her suit in, throwing his suit in after. Then he heard footsteps coming from outside the orange door. "Hurry! They're coming!" He cried frantically (in between Quill and Nebula) as the others placed their suits in.
Then he heard the door open and heard the person or persons outside enter, turned around leftwards, with his best innocent look on his face, seeing a trio of Sentries in front of them. Silence filled the room for a few seconds. "What the hell was that, guys? What, are you kidding me?" Quill suddenly asked. "What?" The lead Sentry, asked, with a confused look on his face. "A neutron-quark just hit the satellite. Its urning a hole through the wall. You geniuses, you just throw the door open without any proper precautionary procedure?" Quill explained, Mark realising he was playing the undercover excuse game. "What procedure, bro?" The leader asked, taking a step closer to them. "Oh, you want us to read the manual for you two, bro? You could have killed everyone in the wing!" Mantis said back sharply, stepping towards the leader. "Yeah, you dummies! I mean, can't you see these mechanic uniforms that we're wearing?" Mark added, playing along. "I'm angry too!" Drax spoke. "Oh, no." Mark heard Nebula mutter. "And these are authentic uniforms that we're wearing over our bodies. And they blend in with some of our skin tones better than others?" Drax added, with almost made Mark roll his eyes, but he suppressed it for his cover. "Excuse my friend. He is the boss's nephew. He's a little… Quill said to the leader, doing a 'crazy' gesture with his left hand. "Oh. Oh. Yeah. I got one of those two." The leader said, understandably, gesturing to the one on his rear left. "I mean, this one? This one I love. I'm so proud. You're doing great. So proud of you..." The leader said to the sentry on his rear right. "But this one, I just… everything he does drives me crazy." The leader said about the sentry on his left again, "Yeah." Quill replied. "I thought you said something else." The sentry the leader just referred to said. "Shut up. I swear I wanna throttle him. I'm gonna go to jail for murder. I am." The leader said back in an annoyed tone. Hmm, not very bright." Mark thought in his head, as he heard something that sounded like a gasp from someone in the room. "How did you guys get here so fast?" The leader asked. "I'll be honest, we just happened in before it burned all the way through, thankfully." Quill answered, which to Mark seemed decent enough. "Good thing you were here. All right, guys, wrap it up. Looks like we're all clear here." The leader said as he and the others turned around and exited the room, the doors closing behind them. "Our spacesuits!" Mantis yelled out, Mark seeing her right arm pointed towards the window to his right looking rightwards almost instantly to see their suits floating n space outside the window. His mouth and eyes widening, He ran fast over to the window and looked out, both front arms against the side of the window. "You threw them in the contamination bin. It expels stuff into space the moment you shut the door." Gamora groaned. "That would have been helpful information 3 minutes ago." Mantis said back. "Damn it, Mantis, why don't you ever think?!" Nebula yelled at her, as Mark turned leftwards away from the window. "Are we pretending to be angry again? Mantis, you asshole!" Drax "Guys, that doesn't matter now. We'll find another way out of here. We need to focus on saving Rocket's life, not who did what. All right, I have an idea, Gamora, Quill, Nebula and I will get to the records and get the passkey. Nebula, Drax, go to the spaceport, so Groot can land and get us out of here." Mark spoke, the others looking at him, which made him feel embarrassed. "That is a pretty good plan, Mark. Let's do it." Quill spoke, before he led the others out of the door. Mark still felt embarrassed, but was quickly becoming surprised with himself, as he had actually come up with a good plan himself.
And that's chapter 6 done. Might the longest chapter of story so far, over 4000 words! Hope the stuff about mark in the first paragraph was fitting. Look at chapter 2 in my previous Guardians book to see more of his backstory. Sorry if it's a bit rushed in some bits, had some computer issues early in weeks, so was a bit pushed to get it done. I'm gonna be busy in September, and maybe in the coming months, so I want to get as much the third movie done as possible, hence the longer than usual chapters. Oh, and "A pretty good plan" is a reference to the first movie, when Quill said almost the same to Rocket during their prison escape. Next chapter will be out soon.