by Chris Wyatt
Drax looked confused. “Explain,” he ordered.
“You don’t want to hurt her because she betrayed Ronan,” Peter explained. “And Ronan is a known lover of revenge. You keep her close, and you know what’s going to happen?”
Drax looked at Peter, waiting.
“Ronan will come straight to you.”
Drax realized Peter was right. Gamora was safe… for now.
As they were walked back to their quarters, Gamora spoke. “What you did…?” she started. “Well, you’re not the man I assumed.”
“Let’s get one thing straight,” Peter replied. “I don’t care if you live or die. People who care about other people usually end up on the losing side of things.”
Gamora was confused. “Then why stop Drax?”
“Because you’re the only one who knows where to sell that stupid Orb.”
Gamora nodded. Of course. This so-called “Star-Lord” really was just out for his own good.
“I know where to sell it,” she said. “But since we’re trapped here, what does it matter?”
Peter pointed to Rocket. “This one escaped twenty-two prisons.”
“Yeah,” confirmed Rocket, poking Peter in the gut. “We’re escaping here, too—and headed straight to Yondu to get paid for your bounty.”
“You said you had a buyer for the Orb,” Peter said to Gamora. “How much was he going to pay you?”
“Four billion units,” she replied.
“Four bill—what?!” exclaimed a shocked Rocket.
“Whoa! Seriously?” responded an equally shocked Peter.
“I trust that’s worth more than his bounty?” Gamora asked Rocket.
Rocket just nodded, still in shock.
“Fine, then,” Gamora continued. “Free all of us and I’ll lead you to the buyer. We’ll split the profits between the three of us.”
But then a loud, protesting moan came from behind them. They turned to see Groot, angry. He’d found them and listened to every word.
“We split the money between the four of us,” Rocket said, looking at Gamora.
Gamora nodded. “Agreed.”
They all shared a long look. They may have met as competitors, but now they were in this together.
The next morning, over steel trays of some of the most disgusting “food” Peter had ever smelled, Rocket explained what he needed for his escape plan.
“To get out of here, we’re going to need to get into the watchtower,” the furry little alien said, jerking his head back at the central guard post. “And to get in there, I need three things: First, one of those,” Rocket said, subtly pointing to an armband on one of the guards. The armbands acted as pass keys, letting the guards in and out of the secure areas.
“Second, I need that dude’s fake leg,” Rocket said, pointing to a prisoner who limped along using a robotic leg replacement.
“His leg?” asked Peter. “Are you serious?”
“Well, I certainly don’t need the rest of him,” said Rocket. “And last, do you see that black panel up there? The one with the flashing yellow lights?” asked Rocket, indicating a small area on the wall at least seventy feet off the ground. “Behind that panel is a quarnyx battery, a purplish box with a green wire around it. We need that.”
Peter and Gamora looked at each other, displeased. “How do you expect us to get up there?” asked Peter. “Especially without being seen by everyone?”
“Hey, I got only one plan to get out of here, and I need a quarnyx battery for it!”
Rocket, Gamora, and Peter were so absorbed in a debate over how best to get the battery that they didn’t even notice Groot leaving the table. He walked over to the wall and started to grow, quickly gaining enough height to reach the battery.
As Groot tore into the wall and ripped out what he needed, Rocket explained, “Once that battery is pulled out, the whole prison will lock down into emergency mode… so we need to get that last.”
The battery came free with a click, and the lights in the entire station immediately went down. A split second after, red emergency lighting shone, an alarm went off, and armed guards started to swarm into the yard.
“What’s going on?” Rocket looked up and was surprised to see Groot above them, waving the battery around and clearly very pleased with himself. “Or we get the battery first and then improvise,” Rocket said with a sigh.
“Prisoner, put the device down,” shouted a Nova Guard’s voice from the speakers. Groot roared threateningly at the annoying hover-bots that swarmed him.
“Fire!” shouted the hover-bots as they unleashed a hail of lasers!
“I AM GROOT!!!” Groot screamed as he expanded his body, making shields of bark to protect him from the lasers.
Then chaos broke out. Prisoners attacked guards. It was as if, once the laser fire broke, everyone went crazy. They were in the middle of a full-scale riot!
“Well,” said Gamora, looking at the fighting erupting all around them, “I’ll get one of those armbands.”
“I’ll get the leg,” shouted Peter as he ran off through the crowd.
The man looked at Peter suspiciously. “What do you want?” he asked.
“Uh… your leg,” explained Peter. “Please,” he added, hoping to sound respectful.
“Why would I do that?” asked the prisoner.
“Well, how does five thousand units in your family’s bank account sound?” asked Peter.
“Not as good as a leg!” answered the prisoner.
Meanwhile, Gamora approached one of the guards in the fighting and knocked him sideways to the ground. “I need your armband,” Gamora yelled.
“Yeah, good luck with that!” taunted the guard.
Gamora lifted the guard up by the arm. “Well, I’ll think of something.…” Gamora said, a threatening sound in her voice.
Peter was running down the corridor with the prisoner’s leg, back out to where the others were, when he was spotted by a guard.
“Put down that—what is that, a leg? Put that down and move back into—”
But Peter didn’t let him finish. He knocked the guard to the ground with the leg. “You’ll pay for that,” the guard’s partner said.
“No, he won’t,” said Drax, stepping from behind the second guard.
Drax looked at Peter. “If your quest is liberation, you have a friend in me… and Ronan’s servant is not leaving without me.”
Peter and Drax ran together toward the watchtower.
Rocket raced up the still-giant Groot, almost like an Earth raccoon climbing an Earth tree. The mastermind stopped at Groot’s shoulder. “The watchtower! Now!” Groot nodded and moved toward the tower, scooping up Gamora as he walked.
Once they reached their destination, Groot returned to his normal size as Rocket and Gamora used the armband to unlock the outer door.
At that moment, Peter, having just climbed the tower, pulled himself up over the railing. “Here’s the leg you needed,” he said, throwing it to Rocket.
“Great!” said Rocket, dropping it over the side. “Wait! Don’t we need that to escape?” asked Peter as he watched the robot leg fall.
“Naw, we only needed the armband and the battery. I was just kidding about the leg,” shrugged Rocket.
“What?” Peter shouted.
“I thought it’d be funny! Was it funny? Was he hopping all around?”
“I had to transfer fifteen thousand credits to him,” Peter complained.
“Silence! Let’s hurry and escape this wretched hole,” said Drax as he pulled himself over the railing to stand next to Peter.
Gamora was shocked to see Drax joining in on the escape plan. “What is he doing here?” Gamora asked Peter angrily.
“If I told you the answer was ‘being a total nut job,’ would that surprise you?” responded Peter.
“No, I mean, why are you allowing him to come with us?” Gamora demanded.
Peter looked embarrassed. “He sorta saved my life.”
“And we c
ould use him,” added Rocket as he jerked open the tower door and rushed inside.
“I am Groot,” Groot contributed as he followed Rocket inside.
“This is a mistake,” Gamora said, narrowing her eyes at Drax.
Drax stared back at her, but he said nothing.
Inside the tower, Rocket wired the quarnyx battery into a bank of controls.
Peter looked out the window, checking out the action in the yard.
“Uh… I don’t mean to worry you, Rocket, but those are some pretty big weapons,” he said, pointing down to two arriving Nova Guards with giant shoulder-mounted rocket launchers. The guards aimed the launchers up at the tower where they were standing.
“I’m working, I’m working,” assured Rocket as he stripped two wires and tied them together.
“Oh, I remember your kind of animal,” Drax suddenly said. “We used to roast them over a flaming pit as children! They were delicious.”
“Not helping!” Rocket shouted at Drax.
KA-BOOOOM! The whole watchtower shook as one of the Novas’ rockets slammed into the neck of the tower below their floor!
“Almost got it, almost got it…” Rocket said as the tower still shook.
“They’re about to fire again!” said Peter, watching the guards out the window.
“Got it!” shouted Rocket.
Peter watched as the guards, the prisoners, and the whole station suddenly floated off the ground!
“He’s turned off the gravity everywhere but inside this tower,” Gamora excitedly observed.
“Hold on,” Rocket warned as he threw another switch. The watchtower, which had been built in pieces, released its grip on the top floor, where Rocket and the others were standing.
Now free from the rest of the tower, the top floor started to float away.
“Great, we’re in the floating top floor of a tower. This helps us how?” asked Peter.
“Watch and learn, humie,” said Rocket, working on another set of controls. Suddenly the hover-bots that had been swarming Groot before now flew toward the floating floor and gripped onto it. Using one of the controls like a joystick, Rocket guided the hover-bots as they pushed the tower floor in whatever direction he chose.
“Told you it was a good plan.” Rocket smiled as he flew their floor out of the yard like a big, square spaceship. Peter and the others left the chaos of the riot far behind them.
Rocket guided the floor to a section of the station where the prisoners’ belongings were stored. Everyone went straight for the storage unit that held Peter’s belongings.
“It’s here,” Peter shouted as he found the Orb in his backpack. “The Orb is here!” Everyone let out a sigh of relief. But Peter kept searching in the pack, searching for his headphones, the ones from Earth that he’d seen the guard with earlier. Awesome Mix Tape #1 wasn’t there!
Peter handed his backpack to Gamora. “Take this and go to my ship, called the Milano. It’s the orange-and-blue one in the corner of the impound yard.”
Peter turned to run back toward the station. “Wait, where are you going?” Gamora asked.
“Something of mine is still in there,” said Peter.
“How do you expect to—?”
“Just go. I’ll meet you at the Milano.”
And with that, Peter ran back toward the chaos of the riot.
Gamora, looking confused, led the others toward the Milano.
A team of Nova Corps guards waited impatiently as the huge metal vault-like door to the impound area slowly opened. They’d been ordered to detain the prisoners who’d shut off the gravity and flown away with the top floor of the security tower, and the Corps guards knew if they came back without capturing those prisoners, their jobs were on the line. They fidgeted nervously as the door finally opened.
It had never even occurred to them that one of the escapees might come back. That’s why the sight of Peter Quill coming toward them through the now-open impound doorway was such a surprise!
And that surprise was all Peter needed. A pistol in each hand, he stunned the entire team of guards before they managed to raise their weapons.
“Where are my tunes?” Peter shouted, as he ran past the fallen guards.
Gamora led Rocket, Groot, and Drax aboard the Milano. Once in the cockpit, Rocket started booting up the ship’s controls.
“How’s he supposed to get to us?” Rocket asked Gamora, annoyed.
“He declined to share that info with me,” Gamora stated.
“Well, forget this!” shouted Rocket. “I’m not waiting around for some rotten humie with a death wish. Let’s get out of here. You have the Orb, right?”
“Yes, it’s right here,” said Gamora, opening Peter’s backpack. But when she looked in, there was no Orb after all. “Oh! That lying, thieving rat!”
Deep inside the station, Peter casually tossed the Orb in the air as he neared the main office. Inside, the guard who had stolen his headphones was still sitting at his desk, bopping his head to Peter’s favorite songs. This guy didn’t even seem to know there was a riot going on! He was apparently missing the whole thing while grooving to Awesome Mix Tape #1.
Peter lifted the Orb in the air and tapped the guard on the shoulder to get his attention. When the guard looked up, Peter slammed the Orb against his head.
“Told you those were mine,” Peter said to the dazed guard as he pulled the headphones off him.
Now Peter had to get back to his ship. The hallway he’d just passed through would be teeming with guards by now. But as he looked out the office window into space, another path to the ship occurred to him.
Back on the Milano, tensions were running high.
“I’m not waiting here to be blown to bits,” shouted Rocket, jumping into the pilot seat.
Rocket guided the ship out of the space dock doors, when, suddenly, he saw something he never expected to see—Peter Quill flying through space! Wearing his protective mask, which was not meant for the dangers of deep space, he was using the rocket boosters on his boots to do an unscheduled space walk!
“It’s official,” Rocket said. “This guy is crazy!”
As the others watched in disbelief as Peter flew toward them, Drax started to smile.
Entering the ship’s interior through a decompression tube, Peter pulled the mask off his face and gulped the air of the ship. He was dizzy and red-faced, but Drax slapped him on the back proudly.
“Rocketing through space without the proper gear! Ha!” observed Drax, pleased. “This one shows spirit! He will be a keen ally in the battle against Ronan. Companion, what were you re-trieving?”
Peter pulled the headphones out of his jacket and showed them to Drax.
Drax looked at them blankly. “Some kind of a… a music player?”
Peter nodded. Drax’s whole expression changed.
“You are an imbecile,” he said darkly.
“That he is,” confirmed Gamora.
“Maybe,” admitted Peter. “But I also have this,” he said, pulling the Orb from his jacket.
“Ha! The payday!” shouted Rocket with excitement. He and Groot looked at each other with a smug sense of satisfaction.
“You will sell this object?” asked Drax. “I should be a part of this plan.”
Peter groaned. Someone else who wanted a piece of the pie. “What would you spend the money on, a shirt?”
“What need do I have of a shirt?” asked Drax, confused.
“Uh-huh,” nodded Peter. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”
Shaking his head, Drax continued. “Any money I make will go to finance my war on Ronan. What is the object’s price?”
Rocket, Peter, and Gamora all looked at one another.
“Eighty thousand units,” Peter said.
“Four billion units,” Gamora said at the same time.
Rocket squealed in frustration at Gamora. “What did you tell him the real price for? You ruined it!”
Gamora shrugged. “I was raised to hurt heathen
s, not to lie.”
“Now that I have joined you, I will take an equal share,” said Drax.
“Fine, we split it four ways,” agreed Peter. But a loud moan from Groot made him quickly backtrack. “Sorry, I mean five ways!”
Peter picked the Orb up and looked at it before continuing. “That said, I think it’s fair we know what’s in it.”
“I don’t know,” admitted Gamora.
“Considering who’s after it, it must be some kind of weapon,” Peter said, thinking out loud.
“I’m selling it to a collector who wants it for archival purposes only,” said Gamora. “Whatever it is, he’ll keep it secure.”
Drax took the Orb from Peter’s hands. “If it’s a weapon, why don’t we see if we can use it to destroy Ronan?” Running his hands over the seam of the Orb, Drax started trying to pry it open… until Gamora unsheathed her sword.
“Put it down, you fool,” she said, showing him the glint off her blade. “You could hurt us all!”
Angry, Drax lifted the Orb above his head as if he might smash Gamora with it. “Or I could just destroy you!”
Peter quickly jumped between them. “Okay, everybody! Just chill out here! We’re supposed to be partners!”
Gamora snatched the Orb out of Drax’s hands. “We have an agreement. We’re not partners. I have never relied on anyone. I will not begin now. I will tell my connection that we’re on the way to bring him the Orb.”
Gamora spun on her heels and marched out of the room. After she was out of earshot, Peter said, “Man, I’m getting to really like her.”
Rocket looked at Peter and shook his head in disgust. “You’ve got issues, Quill,” he said as he also walked away.
Drax looked uneasily at Peter, and then followed Rocket out, saying, “I’ll be in my bunk.”
“That’s my bunk, actually,” said Peter. “My ship, my bedroom, but…”
It was too late. Drax was gone. Peter realized he was alone with Groot on the bridge. “Just you and me, huh?” the human asked the tree alien.