Chapter 16
I wake up at the sound of someone coming in and get up silently, lurking in the shadows. "Awe, did little Loki get thrown into the Brig?" A newer crew member taunts and makes sure the door was shut before picking the lock on the door to the cell Loki was in. "Guess we've got to show you how being a Ravager is." I hear fists connect and Loki grunts while I move silently. The crew member was beating Loki while a second one was holding him, looking uncomfortable in the situation, and I tap the crew member's shoulder. "Get lost! He's mine!"
I tap his shoulder again as I stand to my full height instead of slouching and he spins, swinging at me. I catch his fist easily and look down at him. "Uh, Captain... What... What are you doing here?" He asks nervously and I lean down to be eye level with him.
"The better question would be... What are you doing here? And why are you dragging people in on your schemes?"
"I, um... I didn't..."
"Oh, come on. You can come up with a better lie than that." He doesn't say anything and I raise an eyebrow. "I'm waiting." He still doesn't say anything and I stand straight again, sighing in disappointment. "What a shame..." I let go of his hand and punch him in the face hard enough to send him to the floor, the crew member that was holding Loki using this opportunity to run. "You looked like you had so much potential and you can't even come up with a good lie?" He tries to get up and I kick him in his stomach, knocking him down again. "Did I say you could get up?" No response so I nudge his head with my toe. "Well?"
"No, Captain," He wheezes and I spare a short glance at Loki to see him beaten fairly badly.
"Now, you're gonna get up and let Loki hit you back. If I have to hold you still, you ain't gonna like it. Clear?" He stands with a nod and I motion at him with my hand slightly. Loki punches him in the face a few times and I hold my hand up. "Good. Both of you, get out of here and get your sorry asses to work."
"Aye, Captain." They both go to work and I watch Loki leave a bit, still not sure how to bring up my feelings. Loki pauses at the door when I snap at him and he comes back over.
"Yes, Captain?"
"Um... We're gonna sell the stuff we got, distribute the units, and celebrate all by 1600... You, uh... We'll be on Contraxia to celebrate and I know a place that will give out private areas if someone wants it... Wanna, um... Wanna come with me?" I rub the back of my neck awkwardly and he looks at me in an assessing manner.
"It would be my pleasure, Captain."
"Nice. Um, I'll give you the information when we land there, then. And don't tell anyone." He nods and goes off when I wave my hand slightly to dismiss him. I smile a bit and line up a buyer for the remainder of the loot, thinking about who to bring with me to meet with the buyer as I walk out of the Brig.
"Captain," Thor greets as he waits for Gamora beneath a vent and I watch slightly, pushing him aside a bit to pull myself up to see how she was doing.
"How's it coming, kid?"
"It's almost done. I just have a few more to do." I help her pull the hose toward her as she moves back toward me and nod.
"Good. Once you get used to these types of jobs, they don't seem that difficult anymore and you can get them done faster." She nods her agreement and I drop onto the floor, dusting myself off slightly. "You done with that one?"
"Yeah."
"Awesome." I help her down and get some dust out of her hair, looking her over. "When you're done, you can use my shower in my Quarters to clean up. Alright?" She nods and I smile a bit, ruffling her hair gently. "And, if Indri isn't done with his job by the time you're out, you can help him out if you want. And make sure you eat."
"OK."
"OK." I brush my sleeves off again and look at Thor then at her. "Hurry up and finish them, then." They both nod and go to finish the vents while I go to check on Indri.
He wasn't even doing anything, kind of sleeping, and I go over to him, not bothering to be quiet. He jumps up and gets to work when he hears my boots while I look around, seeing about half of the hangar cleaned. "Indri. Cleaning the hangar doesn't entail sleeping."
"Sorry... I just... I wanted to get it done and didn't get a lot of sleep," He admits carefully and I go over to him, looking him over.
"Indri, you need to sleep, kid. How much of the hangar you got left?"
"Not a whole lot... 'Bout half of it..." I sigh and rub my head slightly.
"Alright, this is the only time I'm gonna allow this. Get on the Milano and rest for a bit until Gamora comes in and she's gonna help you finish up. OK?"
"OK, Captain. Thank you."
"Yeah. Go on." He goes to do that and I shake my head slightly, going to check on everything else.
"Kid, come on! You've got to have better taste than that!"
"They're cool!" I go over to the open door to Peter and Michelle's Quarters and see Tony looking at a set of Captain America pajamas while the other Avengers also watch in amusement.
"Wait, they made pajamas for the Avengers?" All of them look at me and they nod. "That's some bullshit."
"Do you want a set for each of us?" Tony teases and I roll my eyes.
"No. I outgrew my phase of thinking you guys were cool."
"What made that happen?"
"I got raised by Space Pirates."
"But we were the coolest thing you knew of on Terra, right?" Peter asks and I roll my eyes again.
"At ten years old, yes. Congratulations. Your current Captain was a fan of you guys. You guys gonna get to work or just stand around talking about pajamas?" They disperse to go to work and Rocket was standing by me, walking with me.
"You sure you don't want some pajamas from the Avengers, kid?" I ignore him and he chuckles. "I got my answer."
"Get to work, Rocket."
"Aye aye, Captain." He scurries off to get to work with the Engineering team and I roll my eyes slightly, hoping there won't be a fight between him and Tony today. I walk the ship as I think of who to come with me to sell the loot to the buyer and decide to just bring the Avengers, needing help carrying the loot.
"Avu," I call when I see her and she looks at me. "Set a course for Xandar."
"Aye, Captain." She does that and I see Gamora go into my Quarters before we're taking off of the planet we're currently on, cloaked to avoid being spotted by the Nova Corps.
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We land planetside on Xandar in the docks and I walk to where the buyer is with the Avengers around me, each of us having a pouch of loot. Xandarians pause in walking and look at us, shocked. "I thought we were free of her?"
"I thought she was dead," Other hisses and I feel the Avengers' eyes on me while I walk through the streets, popping my knuckles slightly.
A big guy suddenly gets in our way and was slightly taller than me. "You."
"Me," I smirk and he swings at me, missing when I duck out of the way.
"You got my son killed! He was taking care of everyone else as the oldest and you got him killed!" He had a holographic picture of Horuz on his wrist com and I look at him calmly.
"It's been a lot of annual cycles since he died."
"He wouldn't have even died if you had left him here where he belonged!"
"You mean where you left him starving and freezing in the streets?" He swings at me and I catch his hand, pinning him to the ground with my boot between his shoulders and his wrist in my hands. The other parents of my first crew come over to look at me and I look at them as I let the guy go, backing up a couple of steps. "Don't act like you're all better than me. You all abandoned your children in the streets to starve or freeze to death! Or gave them such a terrible home life that their only option was to run to survive! So hate me all you want! It won't compare to how much I hate myself for them dying and being unable to save them or for taking so long to realize we were being set up by someone on my own damned crew! Enjoy your miserable fucking lives and leave me the fuck alone," I snarl and spin on my heel to continue to the buyer's shop.
The door was shut so I pound on it and the Avengers were right behind me. "We are not open!"
"Broker! Open up! Don't make me open it myself!"
"We are closed!"
"You've got three seconds before you'll need a new door! Three!" I take my blaster out and wait for a beat before charging it up. "Two!" I point it at the door and it opens, the blaster pointing at Broker. He pales more than he already is when he sees me and backs up a few steps. I go in and the others follow me. "Where are my damned units?"
"You... You're... I thought you were dead..."
"Well, I'm not! Now, where are my fucking units?" I bark and he jumps, going to his counter.
"The loot?" Peter starts to go over and I stop him with an arm across his chest, going over myself to lean forward on the counter. I make eye contact with Broker and he shakes in fear.
"You know that ain't how this works. I get the units then you get the loot. Let's see the units, Broker," I growl and he sets a large pouch on the counter, gulping a bit. "That's only half what we agreed."
"New policies, Captain. You do not get the total amount of units until I see the loot and determine if it is worth more or less than what we agreed on at first."
"That does seem fair," Peter says and I turn to glare at him, making him shut up as I turn the glare back to the Broker. He jumps back a bit and I slam my blade into his sleeve to pin him to the counter, eyes not leaving his face.
"Why do you have to make this difficult for yourself? All you have to do is give me my units that we agreed on because I've already confirmed that all of the loot I'm giving you is real."
"You have?"
"Of course I have. If it weren't, I wouldn't have even wasted my time stealing the shit. Now... Units?" He nods and I take my knife out of his sleeve so he can get me my units. He grabs another few pouches and distributes units into them so that they don't look suspicious, putting some on a few cards.
"Here you are, Captain." He hands me the units and I take them, pocketing the cards for now.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Broker. Got any more of those cute things?" I ask as I give him the pouches of loot and he looks at a few of the displays.
"I do. For Captain Udonta, I suppose?"
"How about you just get me the things and I'll pay for them, yeah?" He nods and gets some of them, putting them in small pouches. I pay him for them and he nods slightly.
"Thank you, Captain." I attach the pouches to my belt loops and toss the pouches to the Avengers as we head to the door.
"Hold onto the units cuz I'm probably gonna get arrested."
"Want us to hold onto the knick-knacks too?" Bucky asks and I debate about that for a moment before I hand them to Pepper and Peter.
"I trust you two more than the rest of these idiots. I'll be out in... An hour tops. Or I might be shipped to the Kyln Two."
"What happened to the first Kyln?"
"The Guardians of the Galaxy busted out of there and it got upgraded to be harder to bust out of." We walk outside of the shop and Nova Corpsmen were waiting, pointing their blaster at us.
"Rogue Udonta, you are hereby under arrest!"
"Oh, I am?" I put my hands in my pockets and the blasters charge up.
"Yes! Take your hands out of your pockets and put them where we can see them!" I pull my hands out and keep them in fists. "Drop whatever you are holding!"
"If you say so..." I forcefully drop the orbs in my pockets onto the ground and a cloud of smoke surrounds us.
"Damnit! Not again!"
"What now?" Peter hisses and I look at him like he's stupid.
"Now we run, dumbass!" He starts to take off and I grab his jacket, shoving him in a different direction. "This way! It'll lead us to Nova Prime's house," I say loud enough the Nova Corpsmen hear and I hear them take off in the opposite direction. I smirk slightly and lead the way through some alleys.
I skid to a stop as I turn a corner and Nova Corpsmen were pointing blasters at us. "How stupid do you think we are?"
"You want my honest opinion?" I take a step back and we're getting surrounded by Nova Corpsmen. "Oh, hey, buddy! So... How's the wife?" He comes over and punches me in the face before pressing the blaster under my chin.
"Rogue Udonta, you are hereby under arrest for the assault of a Nova Corps Officer and will be shipped to the Kyln Two immediately."
"What? No trial?" I smirk and he charges the blaster up.
"Kidnappers and killers don't get trials. I should kill you now and save time."
"Do it," I smirk and he looks at me. "Go ahead. Blast my head off. I'll just come back and then I'll come for you. And I'll make your life a living nightmare." He backs away and they all charge up their blasters while I was still smirking. "Oh, come on now!" I grab the barrel off the blaster and press it against my forehead. "Do it. Fire the damned blaster. Blow my fucking head off. Right between the eyes. Let's go. Do it!"
Someone else blasts me in the knee and I grunt, kind of crumpling until Tony catches me. I look at the Corpsman in front of me as I stand straight again and he was looking at me like I was crazy. "Little bitch. Now, this has been fun. But, we've gotta go." I whistle sharply and my arrow soars through the wrists of their hands that are holding their blasters. They all drop them with a shout of pain and I toss other orbs onto them, letting a finger hover over my wrist com for a moment. "On a scale of one to ten, tell me how much this hurts." I press the button and they all seize in pain as electric shocks go through their bodies, blue light emanating over the tops of them.
"So? How much did that hurt?" I ask as I stop and they don't respond so I do it again, not stopping until they're all unconscious. "Nice. Time to go." I lead the way past them and turn to see all of them carefully stepping over their bodies.
"Are you OK?" Peter asks in a worried tone and I glance at him.
"Purple."
"What?"
"Exactly. Let's go." He looks more worried at that and I turn, leading the way back to the ship. "And I'm fine. I enjoy screwing with the Nova Corps, especially that one. Gods. It's so much fun. You learn to find new methods of entertainment. Though, it would sometimes end with me... Yeah... Was still worth it."
"That pause was enlightening," Bucky scoffs and I simply flip him off. "So... I'm guessing Yondu would tan your ass?" I don't respond other than a slight pause in my stride, which I quickly resume with a slight clear of my throat, and he chuckles. "Thought so."
"Shut up, Bucky. Gramps is old school and has been, and I quote, 'been whuppin' idiot kids fer years'. He is immensely frustrating. But, he's family and was one of the first adults to give a shit about me for seven years. So... I can tolerate him."
"That's sweet," Peter's smile is evident in his voice and I roll my eyes slightly, stopping suddenly. "Wh-" I cover his mouth and he looks offended but doesn't say anything since my finger was to my lips, back pressed against the wall slightly.
"We got intel that that bitch Udonta is here with her new pussy crew. We're gonna get her back for stealing our target from under our noses." The voice makes me lean my head back against the wall in frustration and the others look at me, confused.
"The fucking Destroyers. You've got to be shitting me."