I WANT TO BREAK FREE
Elektra stared in awe at the floating bodies and guns outside the watchtower, amazed they'd actually pulled it off.
Not that she was one to doubt, but with everything that had been going on—including the raccoon sending Quill on a wild goose chase for a prosthetic leg—she wasn't exactly betting on the odds of their escape.
Heat coursed through her veins and Elektra's gaze fell to her hands. The glow from earlier was back, tendrils of golden light briefly surrounding her fingers.
The watchtower lurched and they were flying, the drones propelling them further down into the Kyln. Quill gripped her shoulder as she grabbed hold of the control panel.
She blinked and the light disappeared.
"I told you I had a plan."
She had to admit it was a good one.
Rocket pushed a lever forward and steered the tower through a narrow corridor, wiping a Nova Corps officer from the glass. The tower sparked as it crashed against the walls and floor, sentinels flying behind them as they managed to scrape through a giant door.
Elektra hit a button and the door slammed shut behind them with a click of a lock. She met the raccoon's relieved gaze with one of her own.
Quill looked between them, "That was a pretty good plan."
Rocket let out an arrogant grunt and Elektra shook her head.
She was surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy. Gamora seemed to share her sentiment as the two women exchanged matching looks of frustration. Elektra's eyes fell to her hands once more.
The golden light hadn't returned.
Relief flooded her body.
She wasn't sure what caused it, but she knew it came from her mother. And she knew the bracers helped keep it in check, for some reason. She needed her stuff and fast.
Quill swung his legs through the glass, sending it scattering across the steel floors. Elektra grabbed his outstretched hand and began to make her way through the winding corridors, recalling the path they took from the prison transport. They came in through the garage and that was where a ship would be to get them to safety.
"Over here!" Gamora called, and Elektra recognized the room where she'd been asked to strip earlier that day. Or was that yesterday? She couldn't even really tell.
Rocket used the security band to locate each of their bins, pulling them out one by one. Elektra wasted no time clasping the golden chain around her neck and sliding the gold band around her finger, the sigil of a triangle surrounding a circle gleaming in the artificial light. She checked to make sure everything had been returned.
Clothes, bracers, music player, tools and explosives…yep all there.
"There it is!" Peter yelled and Elektra spied the orange and blue Ravager ship she'd stowed away on, "Get to my ship, it's the Milano, the orange and blue one over there in the corner!"
Elektra blinked, trying to make sure she heard him correctly.
The Milano? Like Milano cookies?
"They crumpled my pants into a ball," Rocket grumbled, peering into her box with a growl, "That's rude, they folded yours."
She eyed her starforce uniform before turning her gaze to the change of clothes she'd bought back on Xandar. He was right. Both were folded and untouched.
Elektra faced the rodent with a raised brow, "Consider it karma for stealing a disabled guy's leg."
Rocket bared his teeth and Elektra hissed, surprising both of them.
The raccoon scurried out behind Drax and Groot, leaving only her, Peter and Gamora.
She shoved the uniform deeper into her bag and stripped out of her prison scrubs. She definitely wouldn't miss those. Elektra ignored Quill's wide gaze as she slid into the dark blue trousers, strapping her retractable staff to her thigh with a holster and slipping into her Starforce boots. She pulled on the red tank and finally secured her bracers over the brown fingerless gloves, sighing in relief.
She could already feel the adrenaline steadying and she clanked them together with a wry smirk.
By the time she tossed her bag around her shoulders, she felt more herself than she had in the last nineteen years.
"Come on," She urged, Gamora and Peter still looking through his bin, "They'll be on us soon."
Elektra spied the silver orb the same time Gamora did, "Orb's there, let's go!"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Peter sorted through his bin once, twice, clearly looking for something he wasn't seeing, "That bastard didn't put it back."
The Walkman.
"Here," Quill shoved the bag into Gamora's hands, "Go to the ship, I'll be right back."
Gamora blinked and Elektra's mouth fell open.
He was going back for a damn Walkman.
"How are you going to—"
"Just keep the Milano close by," He ordered, tossing his prison shirt to the side. Elektra tried to ignore the eyeful of abs and chest muscles she was now seeing. Gamora looked between him and Elektra before racing after Rocket and the rest of the group they'd escaped with.
Elektra bit down on her lip, staring at the man changing in front of her. "Did you hear me?" He urged, slipping into his ravager jacket, "Go!"
She wanted to debate him, but knew the longer she stayed here the more likely it was she would get caught again. She shook her head in disbelief, "You're an idiot, Quill."
Peter smirked as he brandished his blasters like a cowboy. "I know, but you love it."
Elektra scoffed as his helmet covered his head, glowing red eyes lighting up the corridor as she watched his figure disappear down the hallway.
A smile tugged on the edge of her lips and she ran.
The guards blocking the path to the garage were in for a rude awakening as the group turned the corner.
Rocket and Drax were already engaged with several men, while Gamora was slowly but surely cutting her way to the Milano.
Elektra slammed her bracers together and the guards went flying like ragdolls.
"Have I mentioned how awesome you are?" Rocket yelled from his position on Groot's shoulder. Elektra shrugged and launched a smirk the rodent's way.
"No, but it's appreciated."
"Let's go!" Gamora yelled, the path to the Milano now clear. The four of them shuffled onto the ship and Gamora tossed the keys to Elektra, who unlocked the ship and piled into the cockpit. She took control of the pilot's seat while Rocket took the co-pilot's beside her.
Her hands danced across the buttons and levers, engines roaring as another group of guards appeared in front of them.
"We got incoming," Rocket warned and readied the thrusters. She could see four of them with more rocket launchers, and she knew that despite how fast M-class ships were, their shields could use a little work.
She threw them up anyway.
"Not for long," Elektra muttered and thrust the ship into gear. It sped forward down the tunnel, knocking over the platoon. Rocket let out a cackle and shot several torpedoes behind them, blowing up whatever ships they might use to follow.
Elektra smiled as the ship veered around a corner into the vast emptiness of outer space.
She'd gotten them out and she'd done it without damaging the ship.
Which was more than what she could say for some people sitting in the cockpit, she thought spitefully.
Now all they had to do was wait.
"Well, how the hell is he gonna get to us?" Rocket asked after Gamora briefed everyone on the situation.
The green-skinned assassin sat behind Elektra with Peter's bag in her lap, "He neglected to share that information," She muttered, staring at the Kyln with a tight lip.
"He'll be here." Elektra affirmed, and though her gut was inclined to agree with her, something in the back of her mind said otherwise.
Elektra was scanning the skies for the ravager and had the ship search for any heat signals, but none were popping up. The only reason she knew Quill hadn't flown off and left them to die was because she knew how connected ravagers were to their ships. They lived their whole lives in one. And Quill didn't seem like the kind of person to abandon everything he'd accumulated over the course of his life in the blink of an eye.
The Walkman proved that.
Looked like they had that in common.
She'd have to ask him why he went back for it later. If she'd even get the chance.
Minutes were now ticking by and still no sign of the ravager anywhere.
The voice in her head was growing louder.
"Screw that!" Rocket yelled from beside her, "I ain't waiting around for some humie with a death wish." The raccoon turned back toward Gamora, "You got the orb right?"
"Yes."
"Hold on!" Elektra whirled around, rage pulsing in her chest at the thought of abandoning the man who'd helped them escape. Hell, he was probably providing a pretty good distraction for the Nova Corps based on the fact they hadn't been blasted out of the sky yet, "I'm the one in the pilot's seat and I say we're not moving until Quill gets back."
Rocket stared at her incredulously, "You really wanna wait around to get shot outta the sky for some asshole?"
"Considering he helped save our lives, yes."
"I did that!" Rocket yelled, "You did that! He just sat around!"
"Shut up!" Gamora's yell tore through the bickering, silencing both as she tossed the bag to the side, "We're not going anywhere without that orb!"
Elektra and Rocket followed her gaze to the discarded piece of cloth. The rest of Quill's belongings were scattered across the floor from the force of the throw, but she noticed the distinct absence of the silver, circular artifact.
A smirk tugged at the edge of her lips.
Of course. There's no way in hell Quill would have trusted them with the orb after the shit they've pulled.
Rocket wasn't above dirty tricks, Gamora only cared about getting the Orb back, and Drax probably would have used it to draw in Ronan. And Elektra…well she'd made her stance pretty clear back in the showers.
It was the smartest move the Terran had made, and admiration panged in her chest at the thought.
"Behold!" Drax pointed toward the opposite end of the prison toward the asteroid field she'd seen as she walked in.
Everyone's mouths dropped open at the sight of a figure flying through the cold vacuum of space, a pair of bright red eyes fixated on the ship before him.
Elektra crossed her arms and shook her head, slightly impressed, "Guess you're not that big of an idiot after all." She muttered to herself.
She could almost see his flirtatious smirk in response.
The hatch hissed and Elektra set the jump points, speeding out of there as quickly as they could. Just in time too, as she caught sight of the Kyln's guns pointed their direction. Unfortunately for them, they were now shooting at thin air.
Elektra leaned back in the pilot's chair and swiveled, crossing her leg over her knee as she caught the gaze of the shivering man. The pads of his fingers shone with freshly formed ice crystals, although Quill didn't look perturbed by any of it.
She wondered what it would be like to freeze to death in space. Would it be quick and to the point? Or would it be so agonizingly slow she'd beg for sweet release before the process was complete?
If she was lucky enough, she'd never find out.
"This one shows spirit!" Drax bellowed, clasping his hand on Quill's shoulder, "He will make a fiece ally in the battle against Ronan."
His eyes shot to her for a brief moment and there it was again. That stupid grin he'd been wearing since the prison break.
"Companion, what were you retrieving?"
He ejected the tape with a click of a button and handed Drax the object he'd risked his life for. Sure as sugarcane, there it was. That damned Walkman.
Drax stared at him with a blank expression. "You're an imbecile."
Elektra couldn't contain her laughter.
Quill pushed past the Kylosian and joined her in the cockpit, staring down at her with his hands on his hips, "You're in my seat."
Elektra tilted her head and stared, "Really? Cause I didn't see your name on it."
"It's my ship, it automatically has my name on it."
"Oh see, that's where you're wrong," Elektra was all saccharine and artifice and Quill grew more and more irritable with each passing moment, "You relinquished your right to this ship when you gave me the keys remember?" She dangled the keychain in front of him. He tried to grab it but she pulled it out of his reach. A sigh escaped his lips, a small smile breaking through the frustration clouding his face.
He shook his head and collapsed into the seat next to her, "You're impossible."
Rocket had long evacuated the cockpit after Quill's stunt, and so had everyone else.
It was just the two of them, staring at one another as the wide expanse of the galaxy surrounded them. "I know, but you love it." She parroted.
Quill shook his head, a smile dangling from his lips as he stared out into space, still shivering.
Elektra eyed him, trying to decipher what exactly Peter Quill was. Even if he'd had most of his extremities protected, his whole hand should be ice now. Instead, just his fingertips were.
"You should get warm." Her voice switched into something more serious, but Quill waved her concerns away.
"Right now I'm more concerned with…" He paused when he caught sight of the jump path tracked on his navigation computer, "…escape. Did you do this?"
Elektra answered his question with a shrug, "I've been flying shit like this since I was fourteen." She bragged, enjoying the stunned look crossing his face.
His mouth flapped open and shut as he searched for words, "Yeah, that's cool, it's just…" He remained speechless, a feat she didn't think possible. "That's the exact path I was thinking of taking."
Elektra shrugged again, not thinking too much of it, "Great minds," She replied as she swung her bag over her shoulder.
His awestruck stare followed her as she left the room.
She relished every bit of it.