Don't Eat The Boy
It was a normal day for Ava. She trained and then went into the city with her friend Hazel. Ava had met Hazel a long time ago by saving her life.
Summer 1980: Ava walked through a park. Her face was hidden under a hood and it was already dark outside. She didn't really like to go under people but she needed to buy her food somewhere.
As she passed a particularly dark corner, she heard quiet sobbing and loud laughing. "C'mon midnight, show us what you got." a voice of a man slurred.
Walking closer, Ava could hear a woman pleading someone to stop and leave her alone. Ava arrived at the spot and saw three men standing around a woman with curly brown hair. Tears ran down the woman's face and her jacket was ripped up. One of the men was trying to pry it off of her while the woman tried but failed to push him away.
"What are you doing?" Ava hissed, approaching quickly. "That ain't none of your business." one of the men said and pointed at her with an empty bottle.
Ava made her way to the woman and pushed the man holding her away. "Leave her alone," she said in a stern voice.
The man laughed. "Sweetheart, you don't get to tell me what to do." he tried to walk around her but she blocked his way again. He lifted his hand, maybe to push her away maybe to hit her but before he could do anything, Ava's instincts kicked in and she punched him in the jaw.
The man looked startled and Ava thought he'd learned his lesson. She turned around and looked at the woman. Although it was summer, the air around them was cool and the woman shivered slightly.
In one swift movement, Ava shrugged out of her coat and laid it on the woman's shoulders. "Th-Thank you." the woman said, wiping away the tears from her eyes. She tried to smile but it looked forced as she was still in shock.
Ava nodded but before she could say anything, one of the men yelled at her: "You freak!" he turned around to his friends, "I guess freaks stick together."
He advanced on Ava but she simply watched him come forward. He-
"What are you thinking about?" Hazel's voice interrupted Ava's thoughts.
"About how we met," Ava told her.
Hazel smiled at her and then pulled a grimace. "I can remember stitching you up after that fight."
Ava mock glared at her. "I had them on the ropes. Besides, we got away, didn't we?" she said.
Hazel laughed. At first, they had been very cautious around each other but after eight years of friendship, they were inseparable.
Hazel often told Ava that it was much easier with her than with any other people around her. Why that was like this, Ava had never understood. For some reason, people looked at Hazel differently. Hazel had once explained that it was because she had darker skin than others but Ava had never understood the concept of that.
Hazel worked at a Hospital and since it was very late, the halls were almost vacant right now. Ava sometimes visited her during her late shifts since usually, nothing happened and Hazel got bored very easily.
Suddenly, they heard loud shouting. "Mom! Mom!" A boy yelled. On Hazel's belt was a small device to tell her when she is needed. It blinked rapidly. "Gotta go. See you tomorrow." Hazel told her friend and started making her way down the hall quickly.
Ava made her way out of the hospital as a boy ran past her. Raising an eyebrow, Ava shrugged it off but as she stepped out of the building the boy was weeping on the floor.
Ava stepped towards him. "Uh, you okay kiddo?" she asked an immediately regretted it. The boy was crying for god's sake! Of course, he wasn't okay.
She stepped closer to try to comfort the kid although she had no idea what she was doing. As she stood beside him, she crouched down to talk to him but just as she opened her mouth, white light shone down on them.
What appeared to be a spaceship hovered bove them both, more specifically over the boy. Ava stood in front of the boy and was about to grab her Jaylah stick, as a ray of light shone down on both of them.
With white, green, and red swirls it surrounding them, Ava and the boy got sucked up in the ship.
As the light faded, they were surrounded by a large group of men. One of the men stood in front of them and had a small red fin on his head. He grinned at the boy and then saw Ava.
His grin dropped. "Who are you?" Ava, who now got the Jaylah stick from her back, asked back: "Who are you and what do you want with the boy?"
She turned the invisibility of her stick off and held it in the face of the guy. He only whistled and what seems to be a red arrow flew out of his coat. As it flew closer, Ava shot at it but it seemed to only take little damage.
She quickly created a few illusions around herself and the boy, who now stood up.
"Okay, that could be useful." the guy said more to himself. "I'm Yondu by the way. How about we make a deal?"