They were in the battling ring again. It'd been a while since Thanos had last pitted them against each other in this way, but after the two came back from a mission unsuccessful, he'd immediately ordered them to fight.
They'd been fighting for hours, neither side willing to stop. Gamora's arms shook slightly as the weight of her swords started to hold her back. She was circling her sister, carefully taking in her every move.
Thanos had left them alone, yet neither girl had spoken to the other. Gamora saw Nebula twitch a second before she made her move. She sidestepped quickly before Nebula slashed at the spot she'd just occupied.
Gamora quickly took advantage of her sister's movement to swing her sword down into her back. Nebula rolled to the side at the last moment, narrowly avoiding Gamora's blade.
She quickly regained her footing, beginning to charge back at Gamora before she suddenly collapsed.
Gamora, cautious of her sister's trickery, quickly nudged her sister's leg. "Nebula?"
The luphomoid began to convulse on the ground, her body shaking terribly. Some of the plates on her limbs and head started to detract from her body successively.
Gamora quickly abandoned her swords, rushing to her sister's side. She flipped Nebula's body over to see her sister's eyes erratically scanning the scene in front of her.
Nebula's eyes landed on Gamora and they widened imperceptivity. Her body stopped moving, every plate retracting to where it belonged. Nebula twisted away from Gamora, her eyes sharpening as they took in the ring around them.
"Where am I?" The cyborg muttered under her breath. Gamora noticed that the other girl's voice was rough, almost like how she sounded before all of the enhancements that their father had given her.
"We're on the Sanctuary," Gamora's voice rang out.
Nebula visibly shook at the sound of her sister's voice. Her arm shot out to grab one of Gamora's swords before she receded, taking a defensive stance. "This isn't real…" Nebula murmured.
Gamora saw a glint in her eyes that she'd never seen before and she ducked out of the way just as Nebula came charging at her with her sword. She grabbed her other sword as she regained her footing.
Gamora didn't get another second before she was is a desperate parring session with Nebula, her sister's movements harsh and unwavering, a cold contrast to the woman she was a few seconds ago.
Gamora didn't let the girl get any closer to her. She easily moved out of Nebula's grasp, never feeling the blade of her sword. As she and Nebula fought around the ring, she took in the other girl's body language. Nebula looked exhausted, yet the ferocity of her attacks never trembled.
She felt she was fighting someone other than her sister; previously, Gamora would be able to land a few blows to Nebula's body, but this time, neither girl could strike the other.
Nevertheless, she kept up with her sister's movements, mirroring every attack effortlessly. Gamora began to see cracks in Nebula's strikes, and she found a pattern in which Nebula seemed to favor her left side.
She took advantage of it, taking her sister by surprise and causing the other girl to trip to the ground. Gamora immediately held her sword to Nebula's neck, silently pleading the other girl to concede defeat.
Nebula's chest was contrasting heavily, her breaths not coming easy. She laid her head to the ground, waving the figurative white flag.
Seconds later, Maw came striding through the doors, his hand waving to raise Nebula's body. Her limbs locked and Gamora could see her sister clenching her jaw.
"What are you doing?" She demanded.
"Father wants to make some adjustments," Maw said, rather bored. "He wants you to watch as well."
Without waiting for her to respond, Maw swiftly left the way he'd come, Nebula's body gliding behind.
Gamora followed Maw and Nebula to the most dreaded room in the facility.
"Ah, my daughter," Thanos said, his large hand gently brushing through her hair. Gamora fought the urge to shiver, willing her body to stay still. "You never disappoint me."
Wires and metal arms began to protrude from the rooms walls and they started attaching themselves to Nebula's body at different points; her arms, her legs, her head, and her back. Maw released his hold on the luphomoid, leaving her suspended in the air.
"And you," Thanos turned his attention to Nebula, his gaze hardening. "It seems we need to fix you up again."
He went to the control panel in the room, pressing a button that made all of Nebula's modifications separate from her body.
Gamora heard Nebula suck in a breath of air.
The purple titan slid something on the screen up to its maximum position, and the wires strained to the point where they were tugging Nebula's body parts away from each other. She began to groan at the pain, but her gaze stayed on Thanos, stubborn even through the agony.
"I promise you," Nebula ground out slowly, "you will die a torturous, slow, death utterly alone by my hand." She bit out, chuckling darkly.
Thanos laughed humorously. "It's cute that you think you could ever even touch me, daughter." He pressed down on the console and Nebula began twisting in pain, electricity running through her body from the wires in the room.
Nebula began to yell, arching upwards from the electric shocks running through her body. Gamora averted her eyes, not wanting to see the agony on her sister's face.
Thanos just watched on as Nebula's voice turned hoarse from her screams.
"Proxima has returned," Maw said, causing Thanos to turn away from her.
"Gamora, stay and watch your sister," Thanos ordered before he and Maw left the room.
Gamora only hesitated a second to make sure they were gone before she rushed to the panel, immediately turning the electricity off.
Nebula groaned, her body going slack. Gamora went to retract the wires, but Nebula's hand shot out to stop her.
"Wait," she bit out." Her arm went up to grab the wire protruding from the back of her head. Her hand tightened around it, and she pulled hard, ripping the wire, along with a part of the plates on her head, off.
"Nebula!" Gamora protested. The rest of the wires immediately retracted from her body, and the blue-skinned woman fell to the ground. She groaned in pain again before shoving the wire (and the plate) into Gamora's arms.
Nebula pushed herself up and crawled to the control panel before pulling herself up to lean against it.
"What are you doing?" Gamora floundered with the wire in her hand. "What's going on, Nebula?" Her voice sounded desperate, even to her own ears. In her defense, though, Nebula was acting very out of character.
"Nothing," Nebula told her.
"You just ripped out a part of your own head," Gamora bit back at her. She waved the wire in front of her sister's face as if Nebula hadn't torn it out in the first place. "What do I even do with this?"
"Hide it," Nebula shrugged, carelessly. Her fingers waved over the control panel, but Gamora couldn't catch a glimpse of what she was doing.
Gamora could only watch, helplessly, as her sister pressed furiously on the panel. "What about your brain," she argued. "The-" she fell silent as she watched the metal plates on her sister's head fuse back together in front of her own eyes. "Nebula-"
"Do your sister a favor and turn it back on," Nebula cut her off, attaching herself back to the wires. A new wire formed and attached itself to her head.
"Are you insane?" Gamora let out, dumbfounded. She heard the thundering footsteps coming back down the hallway, and as if she were on autopilot, her finger reached out to turn the electroshocks back on.
As Nebula's body began to convulse again, Gamora could only watch on with one thought in her head.
What. The . Fuck.