"Rocket had escaped confinement before, whether at the hands of the High Evolutionary or otherwise. This time, however, the entirely of Batch 89 was once more captive, and being trapped in a place those you tried to turn in for a bounty before may lead to… complications when making a plan…"
"I guess most of Nova Corps want to uphold the laws, but these ones, they're corrupt and cruel," Rocket said causally as he, the rest of Batch 89, Quill, and Gamora were all lead into the Kyln. "But hey, that's not my problem. I ain't gonna be here long. I've escaped twenty-two prisons. This one's no different. You're lucky the broad showed up, otherwise me and my crew would be collecting that bounty right now, and you'd be getting drawn and quartered by Yondu and those Ravagers."
"Twenty-two? Rocket only escape twenty-one?" Floor whispered.
"I believe he's counting our first escape in there, Floor," Lylla replied.
"I've had lots of folks try to kill me over the years. I ain't about to be brought down by a tree and his woodland friends," Quill retorted to Rocket's words.
"Hold!" the guard called, making everyone stop where they were.
"That's Rocket Raccoon to you, humie," Rocket muttered.
"Whatever…" Quill rolled his eyes.
"And just so you know, I may be a raccoon, but there ain't no thing like Batch 89, 'cept us," Rocket boasted.
"It's true. One-of-a-kind creations," Teefs nodded.
Quill chose to ignore their comments and turned his attention to Gamora. "So, this orb has a real shiny blue suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon sort of vibe. What is it?"
"I am Groot," Groot shrugged.
"So what? What's the Orb?" Quill asked again.
"I have no words for an honorless thief," Gamora replied.
"Pretty high and mighty coming from the lackey of a genocidal maniac," Rocket said. "Yeah, I know who you are. Anyone who's anyone knows who you are."
"Yeah! …Who is she?" Floor asked.
"I am Groot," Groot replied.
"Yeah, you said that," Quill said.
"I wasn't retrieving the Orb for Ronan. I was betraying him," Gamora stated. "I had an agreement to sell it to a third party."
"I am Groot," Groot said.
"Well, that's just as fascinating as the first eighty-nine times you told me that," Quill said sarcastically. "What is wrong with Giving Tree, here?"
"Well, Groot's species of floral colossus speaks in a language that can't be picked up on by universal translators," Lylla explained. "So his vocabulary to the untrained ear is limited to only three words: "I"…"
"Am"…" Teefs said.
"Groot"!" Floor finished.
"Exclusively In that order!" Rocket added.
"I tell you what, that's gonna wear thin, real fast," Quill responded.
"If you stick around long enough, you might just be able to pick up on what he's saying," Lylla said. "Not that Rocket will take long to come up with an escape plan for you to reach that point…"
"Well, we need Quill to come with us for that bounty, so maybe he will learn to "hear" Groot the way we do," Teefs said.
As the group continued down the hall they passed by the impound lockup for all of the inmates of the Kyln's personal items. 'We'll need to make sure we stop by there on the way out so I can get my weapons…' Rocket made a mental note.
"Hey! Put that away," Quill said to one of the guards who was messing with one of the human's personal items. He stepped into the impound lockup just as the door closed. "Listen to me, you big blue bastard. Take those headphones off! That's mine. Those belong to impound. That tape and that player is mine!" The guard growled and stabbed Quill in the gut with a stun baton, making the human fall to his knees in pain. "Hooked on a Feeling, Blue Swede, 1973. That song belongs to me!"
Lylla winced as Quill got jabbed by the stun baton again. "Well, at least he's got good taste in music…" she said.
"Don't give him the time of day, Lylla. Let's just get this over with…" Rocket shook his head.
The group was then put through the process of getting assimilated into the Kyln's system, starting with stripping down and getting sanitized with orange cleaning fluid. Floor giggled as she was covered in the stuff, coming out looking like a marshmallow treat you'd have at Easter time. After that was putting on the standard yellow inmate uniform of the Kyln, separated by men and woman. Rocket felt Quill's eyes on him as he put on the uniform, the human no doubt staring at the exposed mechanical parts on his back.
'Just ignore him, Rocket. They all stare at you guys anyways,' he thought. "Teefs, let me help you get that thing on."
"Thank you very much, Rocket," Teefs replied as the raccoon used his hands to maneuver the inmate top around Teef's body. Since the walrus' mechanical collar wasn't part of his body the Nova Corps had put that in impound, leaving Teefs with only his wheels.
"Hm… Floor not like yellow. Doesn't suit Floor at all," Floor said as they all stepped out of the changing room, each getting handed a sleeping roll.
"It's definitely not my preferred color either," Lylla nodded. "Rocket could pull it off, though."
"I am Groot," Groot said cheekily.
"I can't compliment my love?" Lylla shot back.
The main part of the Kyln was a massive super-jail with multiple levels of cells, the bottom floor being mostly tables for inmates to use, a central watchtower with Nova guards inside, and security drones hovering in the air to keep a watchful out on the inmates.
"So Rocket, what's the plan?" Teefs whispered.
"These things take time…" Rocket said. He watched as the other inmates took notice of Gamora, throwing items and insults as her reputation preceded her. "It's like I said, she's got a rep. A lot of prisoners here have lost family to Ronan and his goons. She'll last a day, tops."
"Rocket!" Lylla gasped.
"What? It's just a statistic," Rocket shrugged.
"Aw, I like green lady. She has big knife, cut off Groot's arms!" Floor said cheerfully.
"I am Groot…" Groot rubbed at his newly-grown arms in discomfort.
"Does friend Lylla think Floor could learn to stab from green lady?" Floor asked.
"I don't think you should be admiring someone's ability to stab, Floor…" Lylla sighed.
"The guards will protect her, right?" Quill asked.
"They're here to stop us from getting out. I fear they don't much care for what happens inside the prison," Teefs replied.
"Whatever nightmares the future holds, are dreams compared to what's behind me," Gamora said.
As they moved through the crowd of angry inmates, a large blue alien blocked their path. "Check out the fresh meat," the alien said, sizing up Quill. "I'm gonna slather you up in Gunavian jelly, and go to town…" The guy was promptly shut up by Groot, who shoved two fingers up the guys nose and lifted him into the air with one hand.
With all attention on them, Rocket took the moment to make a speech. "Let's make one thing clear: this one here is our booty! You wanna get to him, you go through us!" Lylla, Floor, and Teefs all put on intimidating looks to help back up their friend's claim. "Or, more accurately, we go through you." Groot them dropped the alien, the guy crying on the floor as he held his nose as Batch 89 walked over him.
"…I'm with them," Quill said as he quickly followed behind the crew.
Rocket made his way over to one of the open cells, throwing down his sleeping roll. "Okay, we're staking out this place for us, got it? And we're taking shifts to make sure no one comes in here and tries anything funny."
"Aye-aye, Captain Rocket! I'd be glad to volunteer for first watch," Teefs said, giving a salute.
"They keep calling you that. Are you seriously a captain?" Quill questioned.
"Rocket is the one that helped us escape from the man who created us," Lylla replied.
"Sire was mean, did not care for us, but Rocket did. Friend Rocket fly ship and keep Floor Teefs Lylla safe," Floor added.
"Not like you guys are slouches out in the field," Rocket chuckled. "Lylla's the medic, Teefs is weapon support, Groot is the muscle, and Floor… well, she's the wild card, but she does her part."
"I stab enemies and make then stop moving!" Floor said cheerfully, posing with her spider legs.
"…Fun," Quill said, nervously stepping into the cell with Batch 89.
[***]
Later that night, Rocket found himself being woken up by Lylla. "Rocky, Quill left the cell," Lylla said.
"Whaazat? Quill…?" Rocket rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and noticed that Quill was in fact not here. "Where'd he go?"
"Some other prisoners dragged Gamora away and he went after them," Lylla answered.
Rocket groaned, gesturing for Lylla to follow him. "Great, our bounty's gonna get himself killed because he thinks the deadliest woman in the galaxy is hot." The two scampered off after Quill, making their way to the showers where Gamora was being held at knifepoint. However it seemed that a third party was already intervening, being a muscly green man with many red tattoos all over his body.
"…And you know why they call me this," the tattooed man said as he approached the inmates.
"You've slayed dozens of Ronan's minions," the lead inmate said, fear in his voice.
"Ronan murdered my wife, Ovette, and my daughter, Camaria. He slaughtered them where he stood… and he laughed!" the man shouted.
"…Holy shit, that's Drax the Destroyer," Rocket recognized, making Lylla gasp and Quill look confused.
"Her life is not yours to take," Drax continued. "He killed my family. I shall take one of his in return."
"Of course, Drax," the lead inmate said, holding out his knife as an offering. "Here, I…" Gamora chose that moment to break free, incapacitating two of the inmates and stealing their knives, holding one to Drax and the lead inmate's throats.
Quill moved forward towards the group. "Quill, what are you doing!?" Rocket whispered.
"I am no family to Ronan or Thanos," Gamora said, backing off and dropping the knives to the ground. "I'm your only hope at stopping him." In response to that Drax screamed and choke slammed Gamora against the wall.
"Woman, your words mean nothing to me!" Drax said, pointing his knife at her.
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Hey!" Quill said, holding out his hands.
"Oh crap…" Rocket cursed, pinching the bridge of his muzzle.
"You know, if killing Ronan is truly your sole purpose I don't think this is a good way to go about it," Quill said to Drax.
"Are you not the man this wench attempted to kill?" Drax questioned.
"Wow, word travels fast around here," Lylla mused.
"Well, I mean, she's hardly the first woman to try and do that to me," Quill shrugged. He pulled out his shirt to show off some of his scars. "Look, this is from a smoking-hot Rajak girl. Stabbed me with a fork. Didn't like me skipping out on her at sunrise. I got, right here, a Kree girl tried to rip out my thorax. She caught me with this skinny little A'askavariian who worked in Nova records. I was trying to get information. You ever see an A'askavariian? They have tentacles and needles for teeth. If you think I'm seriously interested in that, then…"
"I don't think he cares, Quill," Lylla sighed.
"But here's the point: She betrayed Ronan. He's coming back for her," Quill said. "And when he does, that's when you…." He made a slashing motion across his neck.
"Why would I put my finger on his throat?" Drax raised an eyebrow.
"What? …Oh no, this is a symbol for you slicing his throat," Quill clarified.
"I would not slice his throat. I would cut his head clean off," Drax replied.
"It's a general expression for you killing somebody," Quill argued. He looked to Rocket and Lylla. "You've heard of this. You know what this is."
"All too many times…" Lylla chuckled.
"Especially from the guys I really piss off," Rocket laughed.
"Everyone knows," Quill said. "What I'm saying is, you want to keep her alive. Don't do his work for him."
Drax looked at Quill, then back to Gamora. The air was tense with energy for a good few seconds… before Drax let Gamora go, the woman falling to the floor as she gasped for air. Lylla went over and checked on Gamora. "Hm, looks like there is some bruising, but it'll heal by the morning," Lylla said.
"I like your knife. I'm keeping it," Drax said to the lead inmate as he walked away.
"…That was my favorite knife," the inmate said sadly.
Gamora soon left after that, with Quill following behind her and Rocket and Lylla behind him. "What, not gonna say "thank you" or anything?" Quill questioned. "Listen! I could care less whether you live or whether you die."
"Then why stop the big guy?" Gamora asked.
"Simple. You know where to sell my Orb," Quill replied.
"How are we gonna sell it when we and it are still here?" Gamora questioned.
"Rocket here has escaped twenty-two prisons, with some assistance from his loyal crew," Lylla said.
"Oh, we're getting out, and then we're heading straight to Yondu to retrieve his bounty," Rocket said.
"How much was your buyer willing to pay for my Orb?" Quill asked.
"…Four billion units," Gamora replied.
"What!?" Rocket and Lylla exclaimed.
"Holy shit," Quill gaped.
"That Orb is my opportunity to get away from Thanos and Ronan. If you free us… I'll lead you to the buyer directly and I'll split the prophet between the four of us," Gamora said.
"Batch 89 count as one entity- legally, at least- so it's a three-way split," Rocket corrected.
"I am Groot," Groot said, peeking out from their cell.
"Groot wants his cut to be separate, so four-way split it is," Lylla said.
"Asleep for the danger, awake for the money, as per fricking usual," Rocket shook his head. He let out a yawn. "Okay, we can discuss the plan in the morning. For now, let's sleep on it…"
[***]
The next day Rocket discussed the plan with his team, Quill, and Gamora during mealtime. "If we're going to get out of here, we're gonna need to get into that watchtower, and to do that I'm going to need a few things. The guards wear security bands to control their ins and outs. I need one."
"Leave it to me," Gamora said.
"Floor help too! Floor move fast!" Floor hopped in.
"I don't need you slowing me down," Gamora shook her head.
"Let Floor help, Gamora. She's handy with her knowledge of weak points on the body," Lylla said.
"…Fine," Gamora sighed while Floor cheered.
"That guy there? I need his prosthetic leg," Rocket said.
"His leg?" Quill questioned.
"Yeah. God knows I don't need the rest of him," Rocket said. "Look at him, he's useless."
"But how would that-?" Lylla questioned, only for Rocket to shush her.
"I just need the humie out of the way until we get into the watchtower," Rocket whispered.
"All right," Quill shrugged, not hearing what the raccoon had said.
"And finally, on the wall back there is a black panel. Blinky yellow light Do you see it?" Rocket continued.
"Indeed. There is a panel of that description up there," Teefs nodded.
"There's a quarnyx battery behind it. Purplish box, green wires. To get into that watchtower, I definitely need it," Rocket said.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Gamora asked.
"Well, supposably, some bald-bodies here find you attractive. Maybe you can work out some kind of trade?" Rocket replied.
"You must be joking," Gamora said flatly.
"No, I heard they find you attractive," Lylla said.
"Hm… The panel is twenty feet up in the air in the most secure part of the prison. I don't imagine it would be possible to get that battery without being seen," Teefs hummed.
"Well the only plan I've got requires that battery, Teefs, so we'll have to figure something out," Rocket said. As this was all going on, Groot was using his tree abilities to stretch up and rip open the panel to grab the batteries.
"If only we had our tools back on the ship. You could finish working on those jetpacks," Lylla said.
"if only, Ly, if only," Rocket sighed. "Now, this is important. Once the battery is removed, everything is going to slam into emergency mode. Once we have it, we gotta move quickly, so we definitely need to get that last." It was then that Groot ripped the battery out of the panel, causing the power to short out as emergency lights and alarms went off. "…Or we can just get it first and improvise."
"I'll get the armband," Gamora said, running off with Floor.
"Leg," Quill said, going off with Teefs.
Rocket rubbed his face in annoyance as Lylla put a comforting paw on his shoulder. "Let's just help Groot secure the battery, okay?" she said.
"Prisoner, drop the device immediately and retreat to your cell, or we will open fire," the watchtower guard announced, surrounding Groot with security drones.
Groot just rolled his shoulders as spikes grew from his bark. "I am… Groooooot!" he shouted in defiance. The guard ordered the drones to fire on the tree-man, Groot whipping out his arms and batting them away as he was pelted with bullets.
"All prisoners return to your sleeping areas," the guard announced.
Rocket and Lylla ducked and scampered along the ground, climbing up to Groot's shoulders to take refuge from the hail fire of bullets. "You idiot! How am I supposed to fight these things without my stuff!?" Rocket shouted.
"How I wouldn't mind one of those weapon upgrades to offered for my arms right about now," Lylla said, reflexively holding up her metal arms to block bullets that went her way. The team would get some unexpected help from Drax the Destroyer, however, as he rushed some of the Nova guards and took them down before they could shoot at the animals.
"Freaky little beasts!" Drax called, tossing two guns to Rocket and Lylla. The two caught their weapons, primed and ready to cause some robot destruction.
"Oh… yeah," Rocket grinned, before he, Groot, and Lylla let out war cries, opening fire on the security drones as they spun in a circle. Rocket couldn't help but laugh at bit at the mayhem that was going on. 'Not part of my plan, but damn if this isn't a good time!'
Over with Quill and Teefs, the two of them were in the man with the prosthetic leg's cell, oblivious to the destruction going on outside. "You need my what…?" the man questioned.
"Your leg, sir. It's very important to my friend's escape plan," Teefs said.
"Well okay, but it'll cost ya," the man shrugged.
"…What's your price?" Quill sighed.
As that deal was going down, Gamora and Floor sprinted across the prison, dodging bullets and taking down guards along the way. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" Floor said as she and Gamora made their way through the Nova guards.
"Why are you apologizing?" Gamora questioned.
"Nova just doing jobs, but in way of friend Rocket's plan, so Floor sorry for hurting Nova," Floor explained.
"Don't be. These guys are as corrupt as they get. It's deserved," Gamora replied. The two were interrupted by a guard with a riot shield and another with a baton. The warrior woman disarmed the shield-bearer while Floor used her spider legs to wrap around the torso of the baton-wielding Nova, pressing into his pressure points to disable the nerves in his arms before kicking him to the ground with her powerful legs.
"Sorry, Mr. Guard!" Floor said. "Oh, and I'll be taking your stick. Sorry again!"
Gamora meanwhile used her leg to hold her opponent in place. "I'll be taking this," Gamora said, eyeing his armband.
"Good luck. It's internally wired," the guard scoffed.
"I'll figure something out," Gamora said before breaking his arm and securing the armband.
"…Green lady is the coolest…" Floor said in awe.
Back with Quill and Teefs, the two had acquired the man's prosthetic leg and were racing to rejoin the others when they got held up by a guard with a gun. "Drop the leg! Drop the leg and move back to your cell!" the guard ordered. Quill slowly moved to put the leg down… before using it as a bludgeoning tool and knocking the guard unconscious.
"My, that is useful for this mission," Teefs mused. "I had my doubts, but you proved me wrong, Mr. Star-Lord."
"Here, hold this," Quill said, pulling the leg on Teefs' flippers before picking up the guard's dropped blaster, using it to take out a drone.
On ground level Rocket's fun has just ended as his and Lylla's guns ran out of ammo. "Friend Rocket! We have armband!" Floor called as Gamora tossed the device to the raccoon.
"Move to the watchtower!" Rocket ordered Groot. He hummed to himself as he fixed the armband and battery together as Groot stretched himself to reach the watchtower, Rocket and Lylla climbing up to meet Gamora and Floor waiting for them there. Quill started to climb up Groot as well, but needing both hands meant he couldn't fight of a drone coming his way.
"Mr. Star-Lord, look out!" Teefs cried.
Help came in the form of Drax, the muscled man jumping up and grabbing the drone before ripping it apart with his bare hands. "You! Man who has laid with an A'askvariian!" Drax called.
"It was one time, man," Quill sighed, continuing his climb. Drax started to follow up Groot behind Quill, using only one arm to do so as he used his free hand to pick up Teefs and haul him up to the platform.
"Oh my, such strength in you, good sir," Teefs said in amazement.
"Of course. I cannot hope to destroy Ronan if I am not strong," Drax replied.
"We need all available guards in full combat gear…" the watchtower guard announced before an alarm went off, making him turn around to see the crew standing there, Rocket's device hacking the door successfully. He held up his hands in surrender as the team entered the watchtower, Groot throwing the man out as the next phase of the plan began.
Gamora looked at Drax in surprise as Rocket started working on the control panel. "Spare me your foul gaze, woman!" Drax said to her face.
"Why is this one here?" Gamora questioned.
"We promised him he could stay by your side until he kills your boss," Quill replied. "I always keep my promises when they're to muscle-bound wack-jobs who will kill me if I don't."
"We got the leg for your, Rocket," Teefs said, handing the prosthetic over.
"Oh I was just kidding about the leg. I just needed these two things," Rocket said with a giggle.
"What!?" Quill said in shock.
"No, I just needed the humie out of the way… and I thought it would be funny," Rocket laughed. "Was it funny? Oh, wait, what did he look like hopping around?"
"Ah I see… he was funny looking, yes," Teefs chuckled.
"I had to transfer him 30,000 units!" Quill exclaimed.
"Sounds to me like you didn't haggle a good deal," Lylla chuckled.
"Well, at least it knocked out that one guard," Teefs said. "And I can use the parts for my tinkering."
"How are we going to leave?" Drax asked as more drones came in, shooting at the windows of the watchtower.
"Rocket has a plan, don't worry," Lylla assured him. "…You do have a plan, right, Rocky?"
"I have a plan! I have a plan!" Rocket said as he scampered around the control panel.
"Cease this yammering and relieve us from this irksome confinement," Drax said.
"Yeah, I'll have to agree with the walking thesaurus on that one," Quill nodded.
"…Do not ever call me a thesaurus," Drax said seriously.
"It's just a metaphor, dude," Quill replied.
"His people take everything literally, Mr. Quill. Metaphors will only go over his head," Lylla said.
"Nothing goes over my head," Drax replied. "My reflexes as too fast. I would catch it."
"…I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy," Gamora realized.
"At least you'll have friends with you!" Floor cheered, oblivious to the danger. "Green lady pet Floor if it make green lady feel better."
Lylla sucked in a breath as she noticed the reinforcements had arrived outside, wielding bigger weapons than before. "Those are some big guns," Quill said as they were hit by the first rocket launcher.
"Rodent, we are ready for your plan," Gamora said.
"Hold on!" Rocket shouted as the second launch was sent their way.
"I recognize this animal. We roast them over a flame pit as children," Drax said. "Their flesh was quite delicious."
"No, I'm sure it's a raccoon-like species, but not exactly a raccoon," Teefs shook his head.
"Not helping!" Rocket barked as the third launch hit them, cracking one of the windows. He pulled out some wires from the panel as the guard gave their final countdown, Rocket slamming to connectors together and grinning as the console made a powering-down noise. Suddenly everything outside of the watchtower started floating.
"You turned off the artificial gravity everywhere in the Kyln except in here!" Lylla cheer.
"See? Friend Rocket is the best with machines!" Floor giggled. Rocket pulled a switch on the console, freeing the watchtower from its base before pressing a few buttons, calling over the still-active drones to attach to the bottom of the tower, turning it into a makeshift craft.
"I told you I had a plan," Rocket grinned, pressing the controls as everyone held on tight as the ship flew its way to freedom, bouncing around the hallway until finally coming to a crash. He pressed one final button, closing off the blast doors to make sure the Nova couldn't come after them.
"That was a pretty good plan," Quill admitted.
"Oh good show, Captain Rocket," Teefs smiled, clapping his flippers together.
As everyone got out of the watchtower and started raiding the nearby impound boxes for supplies, Quill went over to the window and pointed out of it. "There, get my ship! It's the Milano, the orange and blue one over in the corner."
"They crumpled my pants up into a ball," Rocket muttered as he tossed out the rest of his crew's clothes to them. "That's rude. They folded the rest of ya'lls!"
"Here you go, Teefs," Lylla said as she reinstalled his tool collar.
"Oh how I missed you, hands," Teefs sighed in relief as he made sure his robotic arms still worked.
Quill went over to the side of the room and pulled out the box with his stuff, making sure that everything was there. "The Orb's there, let's go!" Gamora said, looking over his shoulder as she grabbed her stuff.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait…" Quill said.
"What wrong?" Floor asked.
"That bastard didn't put it back," Quill replied.
"Put what back?" Gamora questioned.
"Here. Get them to the ship, I'll be back," Quill said, handing over the Orb to Gamora.
"Hare you gonna possibly…" Gamora started.
"Just keep the Milano close by. Go. Go!" Quill ordered as he ran off down the hall.
The remaining escapees made their way to the ship bay, where Rocket made sure to stop by the Rakk 'n' Ruin to grab anything they needed before going to the Milano. "Is that everything?" he asked his crew.
"Friends leave ship behind?" Floor questioned as she held her stuff close. "But ship friend too, yes?"
"Look, Floor… we all need to be together to escape, and Mr. Quill's ship has more room than the Rakk 'n' Ruin does," Lylla tried to assure her friend.
"It will be sad leaving it here, though…" Teefs sighed.
Rocket looked between his friends. "I know that she means a lot to us. She did carry us around the galaxy for all these years, right? But the Rakk 'n' Ruin is just a ship- a very cool, very nice ship, but still just a hunk of metal that hurls us through space. We made a promise to see the stars together, and that won't change, no matter how we fly through the forever sky together, okay?"
"What Rocket's saying is that it's not the ship that matters, but the crew that mans it," Lylla added.
"I am Groot," Groot said.
"…Okay then. Rocket Lylla Teefs Groot Floor go now to human ship!" Floor said as she bounded off to the Milano. Batch 89 boarded the ship, with Rocket taking up the pilot's seat as they got out of the Kyln.
"Huh, where did. Mr. Star-Lord go?" Teefs asked.
He said to wait for him outside," Gamora said.
"What!? Where'd he go?" Rocket questioned.
"He declined to share that information with me," Gamora sighed.
"Well… flark," Rocket groaned. "We can't just leave without our bounty, but I ain't gonna wait around for a humie with a death wish either! You got the Orb, right?"
"Yeah," Gamora said, opening up the bag Quill gave her… only to find it filled with junk.
"…It seems he made sure we'd wait for him," Lylla mused.
"Hah-hah, human play joke on us!" Floor laughed.
"Look, if we don't leave now, we'll be blown to bits," Rocket argued.
"No! We're not leaving without the Orb," Gamora demanded.
"I would feel bad leaving Mr. Star-Lord behind as well," Teefs added.
"Behold," Drax suddenly said, looking out the window to see Quill flying towards them, mask on and rockets on his feet.
"Hm… maybe I should make jet-skates instead of a jetpack…" Rocket muttered to himself as they all went to go let Quill onto the Milano.
"This one shows spirit," Drax said as he helped Quill up out of he hatch. "He shall make a keen ally in the battle against Ronan. Companion, what were you retrieving?" Quill handed over his cassette tape. "…You're an imbecile."
"Oh, a music tape. And there's a stereo built into the ship that should play the cassette," Teefs said, poking around the ship.
"At least we won't get bored without any music…" Lylla chuckled tiredly.
Author's Note
Drax enters the picture as we finally gather the future Guardians of the Galaxy all in one place! One thing I'm having to balance with this story is how to portray Rocket in terms of his personality, and I've landed on him being a lot more reasonable and friendly with his friends versus how he interacts with Star-Lord and the others. Rocket is the captain of the ship so he has to be the face of Batch 89, meaning he puts on a front for others to protect his friends. I imagine that the High Evolutionary also just naturally gives Rocket a lot of trust issues, so he needs to warm up to these guys before he can be more relaxed around them.
Otherwise this goes down relatively the same as in the main timeline, with some additions from Lylla, Floor, and Teefs. I really enjoy having Floor admire Gamora as our rabbit friend shows more of her hidden battle tendencies, as well as Teefs being polite to the others as the team grows. Sadly Batch 89 have to say goodbye to the Rakk 'n' Ruin, but they're still a motley crew of friends no matter what ship they fly.
We're going to Knowhere next, which will be interesting as we see what Batch 89's dynamic with the Collector is like.