I Told You So
They had made a deal and 26 years later, Ava was still with the Ravagers. She and the little boy, whose name she later found out was Peter, became close. She had basically raised the kid.
That had been one part of the deal. She had convinced the leader of the Ravagers, Yondu, that she would help the crew only if they wouldn't hurt the kid. Back then, she had planned to escape as soon as possible but her teleporting powers were not unlimited and she couldn't jump from planet to planet. She had cursed herself for not teleporting away with the boy sooner.
So, Ava raised Peter and tried to keep him as innocent as possible. During this time, Yondu became a father figure to Peter and Ava didn't try to escape with the kid anymore (the first 23 tries failed anyway).
Now, Peter and she were travelling together to steal something. Neither of them were sure what they were about to steal, but that doesn't really matter, does it?
"You ready?" Ava asked Peter. He grinned and nodded.
Peter was now a grown-up man, he wore his hair shorter than he had as a child and carried himself with a lot more confidence.
They landed their ship, the Milano, on Morag, an abandoned planet, and Peter got out. everything around them was grey and there was a lot of fog but Ava could see Peter walk away.
She sighed. She didn't like the plan. Peter tended to be very careless, that's why they always went together. So that Ava could get him out of the dangerous situations he always managed to get himself into.
This time, however, he insisted on going alone. "The planet is abandoned," Peter had told her, "I'm just gonna walk in and out again." he had made hand gestures to make his point clearer. "Nothing is going to happen."
In the end, Ava had given in. She forced him to take several Quad Blasters and his Gravity Mine in case of emergencies. Through the partial helmet he used, he was connected with the ship, so he could reach her if something happened but that didn't stop her from worrying.
*****
Men had started to surround their ship.
Jaylah quietly got out and stood on the ship. Then, she created two illusions who quickly got fired at by the men. She made the illusions duck themselves and pretend to fight. Then she attacked with her Jaylah Stick.
She swung for the head of one of the men but he ducked. As he got up again, however, she jumped onto his shoulders and brought him to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man running at her, so she teleported away, letting him run over his comrade.
She appeared next to both of them and looked at the remaining two just as Peter came running towards them. They looked at him and one shot at him but Peter managed to avoid the shot while continuing to run.
Peter threw a gravity mine to the floor and Ava quickly teleported into the Milano to not get sucked to it.
Moments later, Peter threw himself into the cockpit of their ship. He started to take off and narrowly escaped a blast that the men beneath them shot at their ship.
Ava sat on the co-pilot seat and glared at him as he started laughing. He looked out of the window and then to her. "What?"
"The Planet is abandoned" she imitated his voice "Nothing is going to happen"
He opened the mouth to say something but the ship got dragged up by a huge water fountain and Peter, who didn't put on his seatbelt, got pressed against the glass of the ship.
Peter fell to the back of the ship which was rocketing down but Ava was able to pull the lever up and stop them from crashing down. She softly landed them on the ground and turned to Peter who is breathing heavily.
*****
Music was playing, as Ava ate. She lifted her head as a beeping sound echoed through the ship.
"Peter! Answer the call." She yelled but didn't get an answer. "Peter!" She called out standing up. Then she saw that it was Yondu who was calling. She picked up.
"No no no," Peter, who was standing in front of a monitor, said but it was too late, Yondu's face had already appeared on the big screen. Ava only shrugged. Peter had to face his problems and stop ignoring them.
"Quill!" Yondu yelled.
"Hey, Yondu."
"I'm here on Morag. Ain't no Orb, ain't no you," the centaurian yelled.
"Well, I was in the neighborhood. I thought I'd save you the hassle."
"Well, where are you at now, boy? And where is Jaylah?"
Peter took a step to the side so that Yondu could see Ava, still eating. She waved. "You know I always follow the kid," she told him.
Peter sent her a look. He hated it when she called him kid or kiddo. He was 37 now and Ava still insisted on calling him that.
Peter turned back to Yondu. "I feel really bad about this, but I'm not gonna tell you where we are going."
"I slaved putting this deal together..."
"Slaved? Making a few calls is 'slaved'?" Peter said but before he was finished complaining, Yondu yelled again. Ava continued eating, she was used to conversations like this.
"And now you're gonna rip me off! We do not do that to each other. We're Ravagers, we got a code."
"Yeah and that code is 'steal from everybody.'" Ava snorted at Peters answer but it was true. Kinda.
"When I picked you up from Terra..." Yondu started.
"Picked me up." Peter mocked. Ava couldn't see it but she was pretty sure that he's making a stupid face.
"...these boys of mine wanted to eat you."
"Yeah?" Peter asked through clenched teeth. He's heard this story so many times.
"They ain't never tasted any Terran before. I stopped them." Ava coughed to remind them that she was the one who convinced Yondu to do so but Yondu ignored it, "You're alive because of me! I will find you, I will..." Peter cut him off by ending the call.
He turned to Ava. "Happy?" She grinned and nodded. He left to his bedroom and slammed his door. Sometimes he's still a moody teenager.
*****
The Milano was now on the way to the Broker and Ava was sitting in the pilot's seat. The Milano was set to autopilot but she liked to still keep watching. Just in case.
She looked at the control board. There were a few scratches here and there. Peter and her had been using this ship for the past 24 years. She thought him how to fly with this ship and he was great at it.