Chapter 25
The outing gets planned for a lunar cycle later and the kids were OK with staying on Xandar. We take the Winter because it's the biggest M-ship that isn't undergoing repairs and we had Nebula, Aleta, Mainframe, Mantis, May, Pepper, Michelle, Senso, Lumes, Natasha, Wanda, Irani, and myself. Rocket was using the Milano for something, don't know what and I didn't ask. The Stealing had been planned for a few solar cycles before the outing.
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We wreck Yondu's crew and I spend most of the time dragging Loki around, Rocket being the getaway pilot. We run into the hangar together and Yondu, Kraglin, and Taz were waiting. "You thought it was going to be that easy, kid?" Taz smirks and I shrug one shoulder, noticing some other crewmembers come in with my crew, kids included.
"Well, one can hope, right?" My crew fights Yondu's crew and I look up slightly as music surrounds us.
"Tha' damned Rat," Yondu scoffs and I smirk slightly, grabbing Loki's hand as I lean down to whisper to him.
"Care to dance?" He looks confused but nods a bit and I smile slightly. "Great. Let's do this then, shall we?" I glance at the other three to see them starting to come over and smirk. "Just follow my lead."
"As you wish, my dear Captain." I pull him closer and he follows my lead as I dance with him away from the three of them, adding in spins.
When we get to the ship after having the three of them try, and fail, to catch Loki, we bow and Rocket takes off while I lead Loki to Controls. "Did you see Blue's face? Priceless," Rocket laughs and I smile, sitting next to Loki in the seats while I notice Yondu's crew's ships leaving his hangar. "You wanna get those, Kid?"
"On it," I smirk and head to the Gunner station, flipping the blast to stun as Rocket tells me how in my ear. I stun the ships coming out and we get back to the Shadowblade easily enough.
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"Alright. Kids, Tex is in charge. Quill's formula's in my Quarters and Gamora and Peter are the only two allowed to carry her around. Behave."
"Yes, Mom."
"OK, Rogue." I gently ruffle their hair and carefully pass the sleeping Quill to Gamora.
"Have fun." I get changed quickly and meet the others by the Winter, straightening out my duster slightly as I do.
"Do you ever wear anything other than your leathers?" Michelle asks and I think, shrugging.
"Probably not." I had my leather pants, a tank top, my duster, gloves, and weapons on and notice we were only missing Irani.
"Who are we waiting for, Rogue?" Mainframe asks and I look around a bit, spotting her.
"She's coming." I whistle and she comes over, dressed in casual clothes.
"Wow. Almost didn't recognize her as fucking Nova Prime! Are you insane?" Aleta glares at me and I look at her.
"Haven't we been over this? Yes, I am. You don't have to come if you don't want to and you can join the guys or watch the kids with my crew. But, I'm going to have this outing because I didn't get one last time and it'd be nice to have you there." I board my ship and they all do too after a few moments of debating. "Where we going?"
"That is a surprise, Rogue!" Mantis smiles brightly and I chuckle softly, nodding.
"Alright. Then let's get going." Mantis and Nebula pilot to the secret spot while I wait and all of them were talking to each other.
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We land and I look out the window, smiling a bit. "Wow. It's been a while since we here last."
"For Gamora's outing," Mantis agrees and Aleta pulls out two boxes.
"This again, Aleta?"
"Yes. Security here is tight. Weapons in the boxes." The others take off their blasters and knives that they had and put them in. She pulls out another two boxes and sets them on the bunk, looking at me. "Let's go, Rogue."
"Well, at least I get boxes for myself this time." I take off my Saya and set it on the bunk next to the boxes followed by my staff.
"We all know you have more than that. Nice try."
"I'm keeping my arrow, knives, and a pocket full of gadgets."
"Fine. Put everything else in here." I take my blaster holster off and put it in the box. Followed by numerous hidden knives, ten pockets full of gadgets, smaller blasters, and more knives, and the boxes were full by the time I was done.
"Do you want me to find a way to put myself in there or am I good?"
"You're just being a dumbass now."
"Little bit, yeah."
"Why?"
"Yondu and Kraglin always had me packing a lot of heat because I was small and it's always a good idea to have backups for your backups." I disembark with them and we head inside the amusement park. "If I remember right, the food here is awesome and the alcohol is top-notch with non-alcoholic drinks too. Because that's what a ten, or eleven, year old would have. Non-alcoholic drinks only. Other than when I drank some of Aleta's drink while no one was paying attention."
"I fucking knew it!" I chuckle and hear a whistle from above us, looking up.
Rocket, Drax, Groot, Yondu, Kraglin, Stakar, Charlie, Martinex, Sam, Steve, Bucky, Thor, Tony, Krugarr, Clint, James, Peter, Vision, Bruce, Scott, Doc Strange, and Loki were on a ledge above us and I grin. "Who let you jackasses in here?" Rocket calls down and I flip him off, making him laugh.
"Hello, my treasure!"
"Hello, my harmonious solar system!"
"What did you just call him?" Stakar and Aleta gape at me and I chuckle softly, blushing a bit since I had forgotten who was around me.
"He is my stars, sun, moon, and planets alike... A harmonious solar system..."
"That is the sappiest bullshit I've heard from you! Ever!" Rocket howls with laughter and I rub the back of my neck slightly, blushing a bit more.
"Shut up, Rat," Yondu hits him in the head and he shuts up with a scoff while they look at me with me looking back. "'Ave fun, Girl. An' don' tip nobody off 'bout us, yeah?"
"Yeah, yeah. Ah was stupid. Ah git it. Gods," Kraglin scoffs and I chuckle. "Wha'cha tryin' ta do, Kid?"
"Get some food."
"It's up here," Tony says helpfully.
"Thanks, Tony. I couldn't tell from the giant signs behind you that show food and drinks on them or the fact that you all have some type of food or drink. Thanks." I give him a thumbs up and see a staircase a bit away, pointing it out to them since I'm the tallest of them.
"I shall see you shortly, Rogue."
"Yeah." I wink at him and head toward the stairs with the others.
"'Harmonious solar system'? Seriously?"
"Shut it," I grumble softly with a decent blush and we ascend the stairs to get food. The guys were still there and the Captains and First Mates look at Irani in shock before bowing their heads slightly with their First Mates, their fists over their hearts. Nebula gets food for us with Lumes, Senso, May, and Pepper while the guys do that.
"Nova Prime, Ma'am."
"Oh. I am not here as Nova Prime. I am here as Irani. A pleasure to see you all again."
"Yeah. At least this time you aren't arresting her for no reason," Bucky scoffs and Irani looks slightly uncomfortable.
"I mean, it was a fair reason cuz it was seriously suspicious. Even you guys thought I did it for a while until Mantis proved I was telling the truth. Not like there was any harm done when she did it herself. Drop it," I say pointedly and he holds his hands up slightly to show he's done. I notice the five that had gone to get food struggling slightly so I go over to help and take the drinks from them, holding the carriers easily while they carry the food over to the tables so we can just eat with the guys at the couples' insistences. They get the food passed out and I set the drinks down so they can tell everyone what belongs to who, taking mine when Nebula hands it to me.
"Caffeinated instead of alcohol," She explains and I nod, sitting to get out of their way.
"You're not going to help?"
"They know what goes to who and I have no clue. I'm not going to get in their way." I take a sip of my drink and hear music playing over the intercom system, softly tapping my foot in time with it. Pepper slides me something that looks like funnel cake and I stop it, nodding slightly in thanks as I notice Irani looking around. "Have you been here before?"
"I have not. Have you?"
"Yup. I got dragged along for Gamora's bachelorette party as a kid, which is basically what this is."
"But you looked and sounded excited when I asked you to come," Mantis says, confused, and I shrug slightly.
"I wasn't."
"Why?"
"Because I got kicked out the hangar for an annual cycle for being a smartass to the people who taught me how to be a smartass. During which, I was swapped around all of the teams on the ship."
"Yer still mad 'bout tha'?" Kraglin asks, surprised, and I look at him.
"Yes."
"Wait, wait. What?" Tony looks between us and I take a sip of my drink. "What are you talking about?"
"When I was twelve, I piloted a team of four other people planetside. I had to disarm the security so they could get the crap and once they got it, I tried to leave the security room but got caught. Three of the team knocked out the other guy and abandoned me there. I got off the planet by freezing in the deep for a minute or two and Doc cleared me after we'd landed on Contraxia to celebrate getting the job done and me not being dead. Told those two I'd meet up with them and an asshole from Charlie's crew started talking shit. I beat his ass and had to be pulled off of him."
"OK... How does this relate to being kicked out of the hangar?"
"There's a rule in the Ravagers. If you're in a fight with someone from another crew and the Captains or First Mates have to get involved, whoever gets pulled off of the other gets beat on by their Captain. And everyone seemed to be under the impression that because I was pissed at them, I'd fuck with their ships. Which I'm still not petty enough to do, by the way."
"Le' it go, Girl. Tha' was cycles ago."
"Not happening. Because the main reason I'm still pissed about it is the fact that you had seen me tear the Mechanic's team a new one after the Skrull wearing my face incident and still thought I'd fuck with your ships."
"Ya did say ya 'ad ta 'ave a good reason fer doin' it."
"I also told them that I'd only fuck with their ships if they were mutinous to you two dumbasses. That's the only reason good enough to fuck with anyone's ships. Or if they break the Code. Honestly, I have never wanted to hit the two of you more than I did that day. Two lunar cycles for yelling at you, then another one for being pissed about it, another two for saying some stupid shit, then jumped to an annual cycle because I said that I understood what you were saying in a tone you didn't like. Could've taken anything else or gave me extra chores but you had to take the one thing I was good at, at that time. Like a fucking asshole. And now I need a stiffer drink." I get up and go to get an alcoholic drink, using a unit card.
I down the drink and throw the cup away before sitting back down, starting to feel hot. I take my gloves off and shove them in my pocket before I sit. "Jesus fuck, it's hot."
"You could just not wear your leathers all the time," Martinex says simply and I flip him off as I shrug out of my duster, tying it around my waist.
"Damn, Captain. You're buff," Peter says in shock and I look at him.
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"Cuz, it's hard to tell with the leathers on."
"Yeah. On purpose."
"Why? Intimidate the fuck out of people by showing them off!"
"Peter! Language," May scolds and I snort slightly at his indignant look.
"Dude, I'm like seven feet tall. That's intimidating on its own. Then, I have broad shoulders for a Terran woman. To top it off, I have the implant. That usually terrifies people before they even see the rest of me. If none of that works, then the jacket comes off, muscles are shown, and they get intimated more so, hopefully. If not, things still usually go my way because I either beat the shit out of them, stab them, shoot them, or send my arrow through them."
"Yes, you have gained a reputation for being able to take down anyone, being good with a blade, an amazing shot, for using your arrow to threaten people you need to threaten, and using your boots to scar someones face," Irani says simply as she takes a bite of food and I'm confused for a moment.
"Oh! Right. Yeah, I forgot I did that. He deserved it. He sure as Hell got revenge for it, though. Asshole," I mutter and take a drink of my caffeinated drink.
"So I've heard. I also heard that you once beat a man with a metal tray as a child?"
"Don't think so..."
"The man himself told me and had video of it."
"Don't remember doing it." I shrug and take a bite of my food, noticing that Yondu and Kraglin looked uncomfortable. "But, I might have. Care to fill me in?"
"A'ight. Ya 'memba tha' time ya was in Med fer a high fever an' shit?"
"Vaguely. Cuz I ate a toxic fruit. Well, toxic for Terrans. Um... Phorrot, right?"
"Yeah. 'Memba wha' 'appened 'fore tha'?"
"Hm... Before waking up in Med, the last thing I remember is getting the second shift meal with Segs. Why?"
"Ya was in the Brig. Cuz ya beat the shit out 'a Hoill with yer tray an' 'ad a lotta shit ta say ta me an' Krags."
"Hoill... Wasn't that the sexist gunner that thought I shouldn't have been in the hangar, let alone on the ship, and would constantly give me shit whenever I was trying to work?"
"Yeah."
"So, he probably said something stupid and sexist and I stuck up for myself in an over-the-top manner. Then, while still pissed, I said stupid shit and got thrown in the Brig. For how long?"
"A lunar cycle."
"Damn. Why that long?"
"Cuz ya was too damned stubborn an' stupid ta jus' say ya was sorry ta us."
"Yeah, sounds like me."
"Segs tol' us Hoill spewed a lotta shit 'bout the two 'a ya."
"Probably. He was a sexist asshole who had something against everyone, especially Segs since he was the Lead Designer. How much damage I do to him?"
"Nearly killed 'im. Doc fixed 'im up then he ran. Was fuckin' scared 'a ya."
"That explains why no one messed with me as much after that... Huh."
"How old was she when she did this?" Tony asks and Yondu takes a sip of his Rhone.
"'Bout... Twelve, thirteen." He looks at Kraglin and he shrugs.
"She was going to be turning thirteen and did by the time she was let out of the Brig to be put in Med," Rocket supplies with an eye roll and eats his food.
"How big was that guy compared to her?" Yondu pulls out his holopad and swipes through some holographic pictures.
"Damn, I grew quick."
"Tell me 'bout it," Kraglin grumbles and I look at him. "Ah 'ad ta give ya m'damned leathers, Kid. Cuz Segs was too busy ta make ya some."
"Oh, he wasn't busy. I just didn't ask." He looks at me, shocked and pissed, and I shrug with a slight smirk. "Hey, blame Gramps. He's the one who encouraged me to lie a lot and make the lies believable. I just did that." I shrug one shoulder and notice Loki looking at me. "What?"
"You still have so many stories that I have yet to hear."
"It would take a lifetime to tell you all of the stories I've gathered over the twenty-three years I've been around these idiots."
"Then it is a good thing that we have one and many more." I scoff slightly and shrug one shoulder with a small smile.
"Guess it is." Yondu smirks suddenly and I look at him with narrowed eyes. "That smirk is not giving me good vibes. Why?" He goes through his holopad and stops on a video.
"Gotta make sure yer man knows ya a'ways been insane, Girl. Tha's all." He presses play and it shows a video from when they picked me up on Terra, two views side by side.
"Are the views for you and Krags?" He nods and I watch it with the others.