Chapter Five
Percy was sitting in the co-pilot seat practically falling asleep, He didn't need as much sleep as Quill or even Gamora but being awake for the last week didn't exactly help him, "Yo, Ranger Rick! What are you doing?" Percy jumped. "You can't take apart my ship without asking me! See, what is this?"
Rocket was sitting in a corner surrounded by scraps and now broken components of the ship. He stopped him about halfway down, "don't touch that It's a bomb."
"A bomb?"
"Yup."
"And you leave it lying around?"
"I was gonna put it in a box."
"What's a box gonna do?"
He pulled an obvious present out from one of Quills drawers, "How about this one?"
Quill knocked it out of Rockets hand back into the drawer and pushed it closed "No! Hey! Leave it alone."
"Why? What is it?"
"Shut up."
"Hey!"
Percy stood up and sat in front of Rocket, "What is that?" He asked, gesturing to whatever he was working on right now.
"That's for if things get really hardcore. Or if you wanna blow up moons."
From the other side of the room Gamora pretty much shut it down "No one's blowing up moons." She sounded a lot like a mom friend, actually she sounded like Annabeth when he and Leo had gotten together. The thought of the two of them made his heart clench. Annabeth stood with him, he kept close tabs on her, and she had to leave the Mythological and moved all the way to Alaska to avoid them, Nico and Will following. Leo had died years ago at only 16 in the battle with Gaea. He missed his family, he missed Annabeth and he felt bad for leaving her in that situation, but he couldn't go back to Terra. Zeus would blow his top and send the mortal world into utter chaos if he found out Percy survived.
"You just wanna suck the joy out of everything," Rocket muttered.
"So, listen, I'm gonna need your buyer's coordinates," Quill said, turning to his monitor.
Instead, Gamora answered, "we're heading in the right direction, for now."
"If we're gonna work together, you might wanna try trusting me a little bit."
"And how much do you trust me?"
"I'd trust you, both of you," Quill pointed to Percy who was still on the ground with Rocket, "a lot more if you told me what this was." He took the orb from her with no problem really, she wasn't holding it too tight. "Because I'm guessing it's some kind of weapon," he said placing it on the console.
"I don't know what it is."
"If it's a weapon, we should use it against Ronan." Drax said picking up the orb.
Gamora Immediately leaned forward, "Put it down, you fool. You'll destroy us all."
"Or just you, murderess!"
"I let you live once, princess!"
"I am not a princess!"
"Hey!" Quill stopped them, "Nobody is killing anybody on my ship! We're stuck together until we get the money."
"I have no interest in money." Drax threw the orb up and Percy shot up to catch it before it could hit the ground.
Quill shrugged letting Drax walk past him, "Great. That means more money for the four of us."
Groot made a whining noise letting Quill know that he was still there and wanted in on the deal too. He sighed frustratedly, "For the five of us. Partners?"
Gamora stopped him, "We have an agreement, but I would never be partners with the likes of you. I'll tell the buyer we're on our way. And Quill, your ship is filthy."
She walked up a set of stairs, Percy had no idea where they went. Quill watched her leave then turned back to Rocket and Percy who was cradling the orb "She has no idea. If I had a black light. This place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting."
"You got issues, Quill." Rocket said not entirely understanding the metaphor.
Percy, on the other hand, completely got it. His face twisted in disgust, "TMI man gross." The young man levitated off his feet and sat crisscrossed in the air, "Ugh."
"What about you? Do you know what it does?'' Rocket asked, pointing to the Orb that resided in his lap.
"Not entirely, all I'm positive of is that if it touches anything organic pure destruction could happen which is why once we sell it, I'll steal it back and bring home and let them lock it up. That's what I was gonna do with it in the first place, no money required."
"Then why sell it? I know you're a great bounty hunter, heck the whole galaxy does. Some places you don't even need to pay for anything they'll just give it to you in an act of peace. You definitely don't need to sell it."
Percy looked up at the way Gamora left, "I know what it's like to wanna get away, I left and what I have now is a thousand times better than the life I had before. I'll give most of my cut of the money to Gamora. I just need enough to buy a new ship."
Quill looked at the beaded necklace around Percy's neck, "Does it have anything to do with that?"
Percy reached up and clutched the necklace; there were five beads on it. One was black with a blue trident, the next had what looked like a gold blanket hanging from a tree, another had an intricate maze on it, a building with small lettering surrounding it, and the last was a statue of some kind. There was also a small tablet that just said 'Percy Cohort 5' hanging in between the fourth and fifth bead. "When I lived on Terra I went to a camp for young warriors where they trained us to be Heros." He fiddled with the building one. "You got one of these every summer you survived. I went from when I was 12 to 17. It's where I got the sword. I spent some time at a different camp and instead of beads they chose something a bit more permanent." He lifted his sleeve to show Quill and Rocket the SPQR marking. "It's less of a Tattoo and more of a branding. One line for every year in the legion. I only spent one year of service then went home. Back to that camp."
There was a moment of quiet, "You got the makings of a terran hero of legends," Quill said. A lot of what Percy said sounded like something out of a Greek myth. "Why are you all the way out here? Why would you leave that?"
Percy let out a harsh chuckle. Tears were springing in his eyes and he tried to push them back. "They killed me." He got back to his feet and made his way back to the co-pilot's seat.
~~~
"Heads up! We're inbound," Rocket called through the ship. Everyone migrated to the front of the ship and came upon one of the most gruesome sights Percy had ever seen and that was saying a lot.
"What is it?"
"It's called knowhere. The severed head of an ancient celestial being."
Percy looked at Gamora with wide eyes, "and we're going inside!?"
She nodded, "Be wary headed in, rodent. There are no regulations whatsoever here."
They flew in and the disturbing thought kept hitting Percy, 'if this isn't one of my family then its something they slayed.' He was suddenly much more afraid of his family and whatever could have been out there that killed this if it was one of Order and Chaos' siblings.
"Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers in to mine the organic matter within the skull. Bone, brain tissue, spinal fluid. All rare resources, highly valued in black markets across the galaxy. It's dangerous and illegal work, suitable only for outlaws."
Percy looked around, "Children of Chaos, Much like myself."
"Well, I come from a planet of outlaws. Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, John Stamos."
Percy turned to Quill confused. "It sounds like a place, which I would like to visit."
"Yeah, you should."
"I don't think John Stamos counts as a criminal," Percy whispered under his breath.
A bunch of little kids ran up to them, "Excuse me."
"Watch your wallets," Quill Warned
"Can you spare any units?" A few kids asked Percy smiled and discreetly gave them each a hundred units each. It was hard for him to refuse helpless children considering how little he grew up with almost nothing of his own. Not to mention the thought of what Nico had gone through on his own. One of them staring at him couldn't have been more than ten with black hair and eyes so dark they looked like the Void. If Percy wasn't in an okay state of mind at the moment, he would have thought him to actually be the son of Hades. He gave him 200 units.
They came up on one of the biggest buildings, a bar it seemed like. "Your buyer's in there?"
"We are to wait here for his representative."
A bouncer pushed someone out the door roughly "Get out of here!"
"This is no respectable establishment. What do you expect us to do while we wait?"
Rocket, Groot and Drax were watching lizard fights that pretty much ended with the smaller one being eaten, which wasn't really Percy's thing. He took a drink and sat outside overlooking Knowhere. He was lost in his thoughts, he wondered what happened to Thalia after he left. He knew about Nico he was with Will, but he didn't keep as close an eye on Thalia. It seemed disrespectful to watch a hunter of Artemis as a male. She was his cousins and had always stuck by him. He hoped she was okay. He wondered what everyone looked like now. He spent a lot of time on the concept's planets where time moves faster. On earth it was only between six to eight years for him it had been ten. He was almost 30 while Annabeth was only between 23 and 25.
He shook his thoughts away, looked down to Gamora and Quill a floor below him. Quill put his headphone on Gamora and she let him. He couldn't help the smile, there was something there even if Quill was really more of a playboy and Gamora would rather not feel, yet. She let him place a hand on her waist and hold her other hand.
Just as they leaned in Gamora snapped back to reality "No!" she suddenly screamed. She pushed Quill back against the railing and placed a knife to his neck.
"What the hell?"
"I know who you are, Peter Quill! And I am not some starry-eyed waif here to succumb to your... Your pelvic sorcery!"
"That is not what is happening here."
Percy dropped down from his place on the roof and broke them up, "Alright, alright it was sweet at first but please don't try to kill him."
"You were watching?" Quill asked creeped out.
"I was drinking, lost in my own thoughts about Terra until you came out here and saw you two. There's nothing else to do. This place sucks."
Percy looked past Quill and saw Groot get thrown back, Drax following suit and jumping on top of him, "Come on seriously."
The three rushed in Gamora pulling Drax off of Groot, Rocket cocking a gun ready to shoot, "stop it!"
"What are you doing?"
"This vermin speaks of affairs he knows nothing about!"
"That is true!" Rocket admits.
"He has no respect!" Drax continued.
"That is also true!" he admits again.
"Hold on! Hold on!"
"Keep calling me vermin, tough guy! You just wanna laugh at me like everyone else!"
Percy took a knee, "Rocket, you're drunk. Alright? No one's laughing at you."
He pointed at Drax, "he thinks I'm some stupid thing! He does! Well, I didn't ask to get made! I didn't ask to be torn apart, and put back together, over and over and turned into some... Some little monster!"
"Rocket, no one's calling you a monster," Quill said, trying to defuse the situation.
"He called me "vermin!" She called me "rodent"! Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your frickin' face!" He powered with the gun and took three shots. Percy lunged in front of Drax putting out his hands, drawing water from the air to absorb the blast.
He was pushed back into Gamora who caught him easily, "did I just get knocked on ass by a life form less than half my size." Percy didn't realize it at the time but using the size comparison instead of the species meant a lot to Rocket.
"No, no, no, no! Four billion units! Rocket! Come on, man. Hey! Suck it up for one more lousy night and you're rich," Quill stopped him from hurting anyone else.
This made Rocket power down his weapon, "fine. But I can't promise, when all this is over, I'm not gonna kill every last one of you jerks."
"See? That's exactly why none of you have any friends! Five seconds after you meet somebody, you're already trying to kill them!" Percy dissipated the water and looked at Quill in disbelief.
The demigod turned a fierce glare on Quill, "I was killed my friends think I'm dead. I have lost many others. I am alone by choice."
"We have traveled, halfway across the quadrant. And Ronan is no closer to being dead," Drax left the bar.
"Drax!"
"Let him go. We don't need him."
Quill looked over to Percy whose eyes were glossed over as if he was reliving a traumatic event. Gamora touched his shoulder only for him to jump back and shake his head, he muttered under his breath a little.
Neither could ask what was wrong before a pink Woman in a white dress with her hands cupped in front of her stepped in. "Milady Gamora. I'm here to fetch you for my master," she bowed and gestured out the door.
Quill looked over at Percy as they were walking out. He was still in a broken state which he was finding was rare for him, "Jackson."
Percy looked up at Quill, "I'm sorry," He pushed away the tears. "I had friends back home; I had a girlfriend and cousins and a mother who loved me. I wouldn't be out here if it wasn't for the gods of Terra."
"Gods?" Quill was Terran so the existence of gods on that planet was a kick to the crotch.
"What do you think I am? How do you think I can do everything I can?" He looked into Quills' horrified eyes. "The king of the Gods killed me. Zues killed me."
Published: Sep 27, 2021
Updated: Apr 30, 2023