Chapter 26
"The fire was that big?"
"Yeah. An' ya jus' kept runnin' in it like a dumbass," Kraglin says drily and I roll my eyes.
"I was getting stuff. Like leftovers that I liked and my medicine. Which I ran out of after a lunar cycle or two and you threw away the stash of food after going through my Quarters for no reason within that same amount of time."
"Ah 'ad plenty reason! Ya was actin' weird!"
"I was on a ship in space with a bunch of aliens as a ten or eleven-year-old kid after the only family I knew died and I met my father, his girlfriend, and his misfit crew. I think it would've been weird if I hadn't been acting weird. And how was I acting weird?"
"Ya was sneakin' 'round an' shit." I look at him and think a bit to remember what he's talking about.
"I wasn't sneaking around. I was avoiding the two of you."
"Wha'? Why?"
"Because you were giving me a bunch of shit to do at one time and couldn't let me finish one thing before you gave me ten more things to do. And I had to make time to study on top of all of the bullshit you gave me. And work. I was avoiding you so that I could get stuff done before you gave me more stuff to do. Idiots, I swear..."
"Much like you," Aleta smirks and I look at her.
"This. This is why I always want to hit you. In the face."
"A lot of people do. Some have. Why haven't you?"
"I ain't that fucking stupid. Damn, Aleta. I'm offended." She rolls her eyes and I rub my head slightly, getting a headache from straining my eyes so much.
"Rogue."
"Yes, Loki?" He gives me a pointed look and I grin charmingly at him. Doc Strange looks at me closely and finally realizes something.
"Didn't Tex and I prescribe glasses to you?"
"Yup."
"Why aren't you wearing them?"
"Because I'm not."
"But you should be. You're putting extra stress and strain on your eyes." Loki gently touches our knees together and I glance at him to see him looking at me with a slightly pleading expression. I pull them out of my inside pocket and put them on. A pair of black glasses that are anti-glare and have tech built into them, courtesy of Rocket, Tony, and the rest of the tech team.
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The two groups go our separate ways and have some fun with this place. We're leaving when my stomach starts to knot and I look around a bit. "Hey, they screen people after the last incident, right?"
"Yeah. Why?" Aleta looks at me and I feel my stomach knot tighter.
"Just... Bad feeling..." I raise my wrist and pull up the guys' locations, seeing they're also on their way. Twenty-two guys... Twenty-two dots all together... OK...
My wrist com buzzes and I pull out an earpiece, putting it in. "Tex. What is it?"
"Yer kids are good at gittin' wha' they want..."
"Tex, don't tell me you took them off of Xandar." He doesn't respond and I rub my face slightly. "You took them off of Xandar, didn't you?"
"Yes..."
"What happened?"
"I took the Autumn ta take the kids ta Contraxia an' tha' bar with all 'a the games... An' a few 'a 'em snuck off... An' Skrulls 'ave been spotted near 'ere... Ah swear Ah jus' foun' tha' out, Cap'n!"
I don't respond and had tensed at that information. "Cap'n?"
"Find them, Tex. And put the rest of them on the ship then lock it up," I growl and end the transmission, turning to see the guys were just coming out. "Rocket."
"Yeah?"
"Get any of the Gunners that are here and get on the Winter. Nebula, help him. As for the rest of you, please go with the guys."
"Rogue, what's wrong?" Loki looks at me, concerned, and I look back at him.
"The kids are manipulative little bastards and got Tex to take them to Contraxia then some of them snuck off. And Skrulls have been spotted near there. I hate stupid people. They're going to be cleaning the entire fucking ship until they're eighteen. Fucking jackasses," I growl as I get on my ship to get my weapons back on me and kick the bunk, pissed. "Fucking idiots! Gods! Damnit!" I kick the bunk again and rub my face, pissed off. Nebula, Rocket, Michelle, Drax, and Loki come on and I look at Loki. "Last I knew, you were a pilot, not a Gunner."
"You need a co-pilot."
"That's Nebula. The three Gunner stations on my ship are filled so why are you on here if I didn't ask for you?" I stand to my full height and tower over him, making him clear his throat awkwardly.
"To help."
"I didn't ask for your help and I don't need your help right now. So do me a fucking favor and get back to Xandar with the others!" He looks at me and nods after a moment, leaving. I turn and see the others were still there. "Get to your fucking stations. NOW!" They rush to do that and I slam the door shut before going to my seat.
Someone punches in the override code and the hatch opens again, making me turn around. "What, Thor?"
"I understand that you are worried about your children, but perhaps you should recall that my brother cares for them as much as you do. We are planning to follow you to Contraxia so that we may aid in the search for the children who left and so we may watch the children that stayed. Is that a problem?" I respond by slamming my fist into the wall next to me, leaving a small dent, and he looks at it then at me as I brush past him to lean out of the hatch.
"Any of you idiots that are coming with, you have ten seconds to get on before I'm taking off!" The ladies, Vision, Clint, Peter, Loki, Groot, Kraglin, Yondu, Stakar, and Tony climb aboard and I shut the hatch again, the ship coming to life underneath my feet. I stride over to my seat and strap in easily, swiping from the top of the window to have tech lower over it. "Appreciate the upgrade."
"Of course, Captain," Nebula bows her head slightly and I glance back to make sure everyone had a hold on something before taking off of the planet with Martinex and his co-pilot following. I flip a switch to open coms to his ship and hear the static.
"You able to hear me, Sparkles?"
"Loud and clear, Kid."
"Good. Try to keep up, yeah?" He scoffs and I speed up, setting a course for Contraxia. "You're getting old too, dude."
"So are you."
"I guess." I flip a few more switches while Nebula presses some buttons and we're cloaked.
"Signal secure?"
"No, it's wide open to everybody. What the fuck do you think?"
"Secured signal. Glad to see you paid attention when anyone talked about anything."
"Jackass."
"Can we get to Contraxia and find the kids before you two fucking bicker?" Charlie asks and I smirk slightly.
"I can multitask very well, Charlie. And we'll be there soon enough, just gotta go through a few jumps."
"No-"
"No more than fifty jumps at a time because it's not safe for a mammalian body to hop more than that. I'm well aware. We've just got to go through... Two thousand. Fuck." I try to chart another course and all of them would still take too long to get to Contraxia.
"What's the holdup, kid? Shouldn't we be going through jumps by now?" I decide to ignore Rocket and try to think while Nebula stays silent, seeing my chest rise and fall as I take deep breaths.
"Wha's yer plan now, Girl? Gonna take too long ta git there by jumps." Stakar and Aleta start to say something too and I slam my hands down on the arms of my chair.
"Shut the fuck up for ten damned seconds and let me fucking think!" The ship goes silent and I take a deep breath. The voices were screaming in my head and I try to get them to shut up.
Someone rests their hand on my shoulder and I look to see Loki standing there. "Are you alright?"
"I can't fucking think straight." He gently grabs my hand and turns my ring slightly. Which had gotten a tracker put in it at his insistence. I squeeze his hand slightly with a small smile as thanks and swipe through holoscreens, pulling up their locations while contacting Tex.
"Yes, Cap?"
"What kids are missing? Or, if it's easier, what kids aren't missing?"
"Gamora, Morgan, Stark, Leta, Peter, Jason, Quill, and Jay are on the ship. All of the others are gone. Even Indri."
"Thirteen- How did you-" I clench my jaw and take a deep breath to keep a clear head. "Keep looking on Contraxia. I'm sending you their locations now."
"Got it, Cap..."
"And Tex?"
"Yes, Cap'n?"
"There's a good chance I'm going to fucking kill you. If not, you are sure as Hell going in the Brig. How long is gonna depend on where these fucking idiotic kids are."
"Aye..." I end the transmission and send him the information, looking to see if any of them were off of Contraxia.
"At least it looks like all of them are still on the fucking planet."
"I found a faster way, Captain. One hundred fifty jumps."
"Catch?"
"We can only do twenty-five at a time or we will die."
"Six groups of twenty-five is a lot faster than forty groups of fifty, Neb."
"We also have to give a cooldown time of five minutes."
"And there's the worse part. Anything else?"
"After each group, we have to extend the cooldown time by five minutes."
"So, five for the first, ten for the second, fifteen for the third, twenty for the fourth, and twenty-five for the fifth. Alright."
"After the sixth one, the ships won't be able to move until, at least, thirty minutes after."
"Good thing the ships don't need to move then. Gramps, you equipped all of the ships with a second suit and backup oxygen generators, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good. How long are the backups gonna go for?"
"Hour, max."
"Minimum?"
"Twenty minnits." I nod a bit and pat myself slightly. "Wha'cha lookin' fer?" I pull out a pouch and toss it to him.
"Those work for it?" He opens it up and sees Sovereign batteries, looking at me in shock. "They last a while. I've got at least twenty left. That enough to make sure we don't die between jumps and after the last set?"
"Yeah, should be."
"Good. Gramps, take this over for a minute." I unstrap and get up before Yondu takes my spot.
"Why?"
"I've got to try to talk Rocket out of the rest of his batteries." I slide down the ladder to his Gunner area and he looks at me. "Hey, Rocket."
"Hey, Kid. What you need?"
"Remember how we stole a shit ton of batteries from the Sovereign?"
"And blew up a creepy thing. Yeah. What about it?"
"I need the rest of yours to make sure the people on the other ship don't die."
"What? Not a chance in Hell!"
"I'll pay you extra for the next three jobs your on."
"Twenty."
"Four."
"Fifteen."
"Five."
"Ten."
"Five."
"Seven?"
"Five."
"Deal."
"Good. Give them here." He hands them to me and I press a button. "Sparkles, have Krugarr open a portal from Gunner Station One to where he is."
"Copy that." The portal opens and I look through it to see Krugarr.
"Catch! Don't break them and use them for the backup generators! I'll make sure you guys get filled in once you've got these!" I drop them through to him and see Steve catch them. "Nice. Alright, Krugarr! You're good to close it up!" He closes it and I go back to Controls, hearing Nebula filling them in.
"That's a worse idea than taking two thousand jumps!"
"We don't have any better options."
"And if they aren't there?"
"Their trackers say they are, Charlie. Look, I know it's not a good plan, alright? But it's the best we've got to be able to get there. I'm going and you can come if you want. But, I've got to make sure they're OK so that I can kick their asses myself." There's silence for a moment and I brace myself on the back of the seats slightly.
"We're coming with you. Somebody's got to make sure you don't kick their asses too bad and that you've got backup," Martinex says and I smile slightly.
"Alright. Let's go, then. Gramps, lead the way." He follows the course Nebula set and I watch, not sure how to feel at this point.