Chapter 19
"Sir," Michelle guesses again and I don't react so she puts one hundred units on the table, cursing while I finish my food.
"Master," Bucky tries and I shudder.
"No." He puts a hundred units on the table.
"Mister," Steve tries and puts a hundred down when I shake my head.
"Chief," Bruce tries awkwardly and another hundred goes down.
"Pete?"
"Uh, come back to me?"
"Sure, kid." I roll my eyes slightly and look at Scott.
"This is weird."
"Yup. You're the ones that said you're family. Got a guess?"
"Coach?"
"No." He puts a hundred down.
"Boss?" Natasha shrugs and another hundred goes down.
"My Liege," Thor smirks.
"Put a hundred units on the table, jackass." He does.
"King," Tony guesses and curses when he has to put units down.
"Lord...?" Sam tries and puts some down.
"No thanks," Pepper shakes her head.
"Duke," James guesses and puts some down.
"Wanda, Vision, Krugarr, Mainframe, May, and I have opted out of this family bonding exercise," Doc Strange says and I shrug one shoulder.
"Marquis," Clint guesses and puts some down. "Damn."
"I am Groot."
"It's not Viscount." He puts some units down.
"I'm not guessing. I've already lost a hundred, I ain't risking it."
"Alpha!"
"No, Mantis."
"Damn." She puts some down.
"Your Grace," Martinex scoffs and puts a hundred down. "You've always been dramatic."
"No thanks."
"Whatever, Charlie. You could've won a lot of units."
"This is a new level of weird, kid." I shrug.
"Handsome," Aleta smirks and I look at Loki.
"Well, I mean, he is. But no."
"Fuck!" She puts a hundred units down.
"Keeper?" Senso tries and I chuckle, shaking my head as she puts some down.
"Leader?" Lumes tries and puts some down.
"This is stupid, but my stars," Stakar mutters and I look at him.
"No. But, not bad." He puts some down.
"Captain," Yondu smirks and drops it when I shake my head. "Damnit!" He tosses some units on the table and I chuckle.
"Bossman?"
"Nope." Kraglin puts some units down and I go over to collect them.
"What about me?" Peter asks and I look at him.
"OK, sure. The pile looks like it needs another hundred," I smirk and he looks at me, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "You gonna guess or just put the units in the pile?"
"Uh... Um... Well..."
"You got five seconds before I want the units."
"Daddy," He blurts and everything freezes for a moment. "Am... Am I right?" I glance at Loki and he was smirking, chuckling under his breath.
"Well is he, my dear Captain? It's not fair to keep us in suspense and you did make a deal with everyone." I go over to my desk and pull out a unit card that had two thousand units on it, handing it to him.
"What's this?"
"A unit card with two thousand units. Which is the amount on the table."
"I got it right?"
"Yes. Shut up or I'll throw you out too." He nods his understanding and pockets it. Everything was still silent because everyone was shocked Peter got it right and I drink my water.
"Did not think your Daddy Issues would be that big," Tony mutters and Yondu howls in laughter at that while I nearly spit my water out.
"Look, no one else on the crew can know. Not yet. Got it?" The crewmembers all nod. "Good. Get out." The crewmembers, other than the remaining Guardians, leave and I look at Loki as he starts to leave too, winking at me.
"I will see you later, my Stars," He smirks and I scoff softly with a slight eye roll.
"Yeah, later. Idiot." He shrugs and leaves me with the Captains, First Mates, Mantis, Groot, and Rocket.
"Got some new tattoos, one of them in English," Rocket points out and I nod. "What's it say?"
"That you're a little bitch." I take a sip of my water and he flips me off, which I reciprocate before I decide to tell them the truth. "It's Jay's name."
"And the ones on your neck?" Mantis looks at me and I tilt my head up slightly, tracing my finger on the names as I say them.
"Raziah, Keiko, and Solstice."
"Any other tattoos in that language?"
"Yup. On my ribs. The seventeen crewmembers I lost that day because I wasn't strong enough to stop Kree and Skrulls or smart enough to realize I was right next to Skrulls posing as crewmembers. Have regrets? Put them on your body permanently, that's my train of thought," I scoff and rub the back of my neck, letting out a short huff of breath.
"Damn. You've got issues."
"Ya fuckin' think?" I bark and Mantis flinches slightly, making me feel like shit for scaring her as I pinch the bridge of my nose.
"You're more pissy than usual," Aleta says simply and I rub my eyes slightly with the tips of my fingers. "What's the matter with you?"
"I have no clue. Any dreams that I've had that haven't been nightmares of past failures of mine, have been weird."
"How?"
"Weird like my messed up childhood."
"Terrans are known to care more about what others think of them and get trauma easily," Lumes says and I nod a bit, rubbing my head a bit. "I've heard it's frustrating."
"You think? It's annoying as all Hell and immensely frustrating."
"How so?"
"What, are you a therapist too?"
"Yes."
"Well then... I've got stuff to do that doesn't involve talking about how much I got beat on Terra or how crappy being a teenager was. Goodbye." I leave my quarters.
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"Cap, you listening?" Jaz asks and I blink, looking at him.
"Yeah. The job today. The team picked out?"
"Rocket, Drax, Indri, Loki, Thor, Tony, Bucky, and the two Peter's." I nod and look at them slightly as they gather around.
"Alright. Nice. Get going and contact me if there are any issues. Don't do anything stupid and I suggest taking the weapon like parts of your suits and your hammer. Because I know you have them hidden somewhere in your work areas. Go." They go do as they're told and I stop Petey and Indri.
"Yes, Captain?" Indri asks as they look at me and I gently ruffle their hair.
"Be careful and don't do anything stupid, alright?"
"You got it." They run off to get ready when I let them go and I rub the back of my neck slightly, going to do my own thing.
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The team had left and should be back soon while we wait for them, three jumps away from the planet they're on in case there's a need for a quick getaway or if they need backup. I'm getting work done with Nebula on some new systems and get a transmission from Rocket. "Hm. Hold that thought, Neb." She nods and I answer the transmission, pulling up the holographic image too. "What's up, Rocket?"
"We got issues! We got a lot of issues! Somebody tipped off the Destroyers, Skrull, Sovereign, and Nova Corps and now we have all of them chasing us through the damn streets while we try to get away!"
"Oh boy..." I pinch the bridge of my nose and think, seeing Doc Strange. "Give me a minute. I'll be there to help."
"Maybe be faster than that?" I end the transmission and go over to Doc Strange.
"You able to see where the team planetside is?"
"Yes."
"You wanna open a portal to them for me?"
"Of course." He does that on the floor and I give him a thumbs-up, telling him to do something else quickly.
"'Preciate it." I jump through the portal and my duster kicks up around me before I drop the ground between the team and the enemies. I stand and dust myself off slightly, looking at the enemies. "Now would be the perfect time for a dramatic hair flip."
"Loki can do that!" I glance at them and Loki does it for me, making me smirk slightly.
"Perfect." I look at the enemies and see a familiar face, bowing slightly with my fist over my heart. "Nova Prime, Ma'am. It's been a while. Why are you chasing my crew?" I glance at her with a raised eyebrow and she looks at me.
"Hoping you'd come, bitch," A Destroyer snarls and advances on me to swing. I lean back as I catch his arm and knock him off balance, shoving him back over to his group.
"Your crewmembers seem to be in possession of stolen goods."
Doc Strange had opened portals in their pouches and I look at them. "They are? Those pouches look extremely empty to me, Ma'am."
"Search them," She snaps and I step forward slightly as Nova Corpsmen do too.
"That won't be necessary because they're going to cooperate. Aren't you?" They nod and I motion at them slightly.
"Open the pouches and turn them inside out." They all do that and the pouches show that they're empty. "I see. Captain Rogue, your crewmembers are much more cooperative than I remember them being. And much younger. That boy resembles Mr. Quill and Gamora while the other boy resembles Mr. Fletch. Did they have children?"
"Yes, they did. This is Indri and this is Peter."
"Are they of any relation to you?"
"Not even remotely. Jay died and I figured I could raise his son." She looks me over and nods slightly, leaving with her Corpsmen without another word.
"Peter has your eyes," A Skrull smirks and reaches out to touch him.
"You lay a single skin cell on either of these boys, I will incinerate you then incinerate your ashes for good fucking measure," I snarl and hit his hand away.
"For two snot-nosed little brats you aren't related to, you sure do care about them. Or is it because the Kree finally managed to get you knocked up and you can't bring yourself to admit you needed help from them?" A Skrull Destroyer sneers and Indri punches him in his face.
"Fuck you!" He gets jumped and I shove Petey toward Tony, going over to help.
"Get the fuck off of him, cunt!" I knock a female off of him and get knocked to the ground by a solid punch to the jaw. I clench my fists against the ground and it starts to shake while the cobblestone path shivers, roots coming through them. "I said get off of him," I snarl and the roots punch through some of them while I stand. The others tuck tail and run before I stop, looking at Indri.
He had gotten beaten pretty bad and I grab his shoulder, wiping a hand across my bleeding mouth. "Let's go." Loki leads the way back to the ship and we all follow.
I shove Indri onto the bunk while Rocket takes off and I treat his wounds, deciding not to wait on tearing him a new one. "What the Hell were you thinking?"
"That I should be more like you."
"No. You should be better than me. I am not a good person."
"Well, you're a better role model than some people."
"HA! As if! Be like anyone other than me, Indri. Be like fucking Tony if you want to! Or Yondu or Kraglin or any of the Captains or First Mates. Maybe don't be Rocket or Drax... But be someone better than me. Be like Dad and Gamora were..." I pause in cleaning him up for a moment before continuing and focusing on that. "Don't be like me. I stay together due to music, alcohol, and very little sleep with stubbornness sprinkled on top of the trauma desert. You don't want that and you'd get that if you're like me. Look... Just... Keep being a good person without letting yourself get taken advantage of and don't try to be like me. I am the worst possible role model."
"He could be like Steve," Peter chimes in and I motion at him slightly.
"Yeah, you could be like Captain America. Or America's Ass who might finally be getting some Ass."
"What?" Everyone sputters while Bucky glares at me and I chuckle softly, finishing cleaning Indri up.
"Your nose is bleeding." Indri hands me a rag and I hold it to my nose.
"Damn. Whenever I use those damned powers."
"Doc Strange knows how to control his stuff. He might be able to help you." I nod a bit and wait for the nose bleed to stop while Peter talks to himself.
"And they're roommates," He whispers and I can't help myself.
"Oh, my Gods. They were roommates." He looks at me with wide eyes and smiles brightly. "Dude, Vine was amazing. It still around?"
"Nah, not anymore."
"Damn. It was a good platform, though."
"Yeah."
"What the fuck are you two talking about?" Tony barks and Peter jumps slightly while I just raise an eyebrow at him, wiping my nose of the blood before I deal with it.
"Damn. I forgot how old you were."
"Compared to Steve and Bucky, I'm young!"
"Uh-huh. Sure."
"You're pretty old too, Rogue," Indri points out and I look at him.
"I'm thirty-two. That's not old."
"Older than me." He sticks his tongue out at me and ducks under my arms when I try to grab him.
"Come here, you little shit!" I grab for him and he avoids it.
"See? Too old to catch me." I look him over quickly and whistle sharply to pin his shoelace to the floor, tripping him. "Hey! That doesn't count!" I walk over to him and crouch next to him, touching his arm.
"Caught you," I smirk and put my arrow back in its holster as I stand, offering him my hand. He takes it and I pull him to his feet. "What team are you on again?"
"Gunners. Rocket's the Lead."
"I knew that."
"Did you?" I flick him in the ear and he rubs it slightly, kind of glaring at me. "Mhmm."
"Other than the ending, did the job go smoothly?"
"Yeah. Got all of the loot. Easy."
"Good." I pop my knuckles and notice the Shadowblade coming up. "Home sweet home," I murmur and Peter looks at me, seeing something.
"You seriously like your ship." Rocket gets us docked and I disembark by sliding down the ladder.
"Of course I like it. It's home." They disembark and I give Petey a short hug. "You help steal shit or keep watch?"
"Rocket had me keep watch in the vents."
"Your kid, he might like being in there as much as you do," Rocket smirks as he explains and I roll my eyes. "Every job had you in the vents."
"Because I'm scrawny and binding is a thing that exists, Rat. Go away." He scampers off with Groot and Drax behind him and I shake my head slightly.
"Hey, Rogue," Indri starts carefully and I look at him. "Do you have time to spar with us?" Nebula comes over and I motion for him to hang on, meeting her halfway. "OK..." She shows me the large holopad in her hands and I type a few things on it, swiping through a bit.
"Alright, Captain. Everything's set up for the next three to five lunar cycles." She bows her head slightly to me and leaves, the other kids coming in.
"Dad! How was the mission? Did you do good?" Morgan asks as she comes over and he picks her up, smiling.
"It went great. We did good."
"Awesome!" She smiles brightly and looks at me. "Hi, Captain."
"Hey, Morgan. You joining the other kids for sparring practice?" She nods and Tony sets her down before she goes toward the gym with the other kids, Indri hanging back.
"Do you?"
"Yeah, I got some time. Jaz and his team are making the team for the next job in a few solar cycles, per usual. You still want me sparring with you?" He nods and I nod back. "Alright. Let's go then." I nod toward the door and he takes off while I follow, vaguely noticing the rest of the team from the job coming too.