Chapter 28
I look around when we get to where their locations are and see nothing as the snow slowly falls around us. "Come on, guys... Where are you?" I murmur and feel something under my boot, carefully moving it. I use my boot to brush the snow away and find Gamora's necklace, my chest tightening. "Damnit..." I notice tracks starting to get covered by the snow and follow them as quickly as I can, catching myself on a building when my leg gives out.
"Rogue!"
"Shut up!" I brace myself on the building as I turn the corner and see the imprint of a ship, checking to see if it was still there. "Damnit!" I punch the wall and my leg gives out again so I just slide down the wall to sit. The others come around the corner and I throw my knife against the building opposite of me, pissed. "Damnit..." I try to think of what to do and Morgan was standing just around the corner, looking at me.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just pissed off. Morgan... Did the Skrulls who broke onto the ship shift out of whoever they looked like to look like Skrulls?" She nods and I look at her. "What did they look like? Did they look important?"
"I... I don't know..."
"OK. Did they have clothes like the female Skrull leader from last annual cycle before you guys came with me?" She thinks and nods a bit. "Alright... OK..."
"What's that mean?"
"Tha' Skrull leaders got 'em," Kraglin explains quietly and I nod, thinking. "Wha' now, Kid?"
"I'm thinking." I get a transmission from Tex and answer it. "Tex, where the Hell are you?"
"Oh, you will not have to worry about Tex any longer. It is just like him to shorten his name. Ungrateful. Much like you, Andrea," A Skrull leader smirks at me and I notice the kids in cells with Tex in the background.
"I've got to say, I think I prefer the damned numbers. How about we make a little deal?"
"What kind of deal?"
"You tell me where you are and I'll kill you quickly." They laugh at that and I get to my feet with a bit of help from Thor.
"Why would we ever do that?"
"Because I thought you guys were supposed to be the smartest species in the galaxy. But, you aren't. No worries. I'll still find you. And I'll skin you alive and gut you before I finally kill you. With your own fucking weapons," I snarl and they smirk slightly.
"I see the Kree did teach you something. Since they did not manage to keep you in line once you were away from them for a short while."
"Not like you ever managed it. For the self-acclaimed smartest, you're all fucking stupid."
"I disagree, but to each their own. I will make a deal of my own with you. You and any other slave around you turn yourselves over so we may reiterate what you all are and I will turn over the children to whoever may be leftover. I imagine that the number will be low," They had a cocky, smug smirk on their face and I look at them before laughing.
"Wow. This... This is a first. Someone as stupid as they look. There's no way in any of the Hells that that's going to happen."
"Then I suppose we will just have to kill them." Gamora's eyes widen and I narrow mine.
"You touch them-"
"You will kill me? Yes, yes. We have already established this."
"Oh, fucking trust me... You'll be begging for death before I even get started." I glance at Nebula and she nods slightly, making me smirk slightly. "See you soon." He ends the transmission and I look at Nebula. "Where are they?"
"They're still on the planet. This way."
"Lead the way." She leads us to where they are and we follow, moving quickly in the shadows.
We get there, a large ship on the docks, and the door was locked tight with a lot of tech on it. "How do we get in there?" Tony asks as he looks it over and looks at Rocket. "You able to hack this?"
"No," He scoffs and I look at the door then glance at my leg, which had at least stopped bleeding.
"Then how are we going to get in?" I look around the door and notice that the door was a bit rusty on the hinges.
"We could try knocking?" Peter tries and I look at him.
"Yeah, OK. I like that idea. I've got it." They look at me in confusion and I slam my boot into the door by the handle once, twice, three, four, five times before it swings open. "Knock knock, bitches." I go inside the door as I take out my knives easily and activate the species indicator on my glasses. "You guys coming or what?" They follow me in and I can smell the dried blood, hearing someone screaming in the distance.
"What now?" I lead the way to the screaming and notice that Loki had stayed outside with the kids as we move quietly. We have to deal with a lot of Skrulls on our way and Kraglin and I use our knives to do that so we don't alert them about us being here.
The screaming was around the corner and I wipe my knife off to use it as a mirror to see what was happening, not noticing the others watching me. A Skrull had either Indri or a Skrull that looks like Indri chained up while they were beating him and singing his hair off. I carefully look around the corner and see that it was Indri through my glasses, tossing my knife so I'm holding it by the tip of the blade as I step away from the wall silently. The Skrull moves and I bring my hand back to get ready to throw my knife, waiting for them to stop moving as I follow it slightly.
"Gotcha," I mutter with a smirk and throw my knife into their shoulder seamlessly.
They scream and Indri pants slightly. They turn and see me with a blaster leveled at their face. "Hey, asshole. See you in Hell." They run for me and I use my other blade to stab them in their stomach, yanking the blade upward. I shove them off of the blade and they crumple to the floor, dead. I take my other knife out of their shoulder and go over to Indri, looking him over.
They had singed half of his hair off and he looked like shit. "Hey, look on the bright side. That's a dope haircut even if the rest of you looks like shit." He kind of glares at me and I grin as I look at his chains, seeing they were tight against the wall. "Hold still." I blast through them and catch him as he falls, blasting the ones on his ankles too. "Alright, Indri. Sit down." I help him sit and he leans against the wall.
"Girl," Yondu hisses and Pepper stays by Indri while I go over to Yondu to see my kids in a large cell, unconscious. I scan them and nod slightly.
"Get them out. I've got something to do."
"Wha'?"
"Got to find Tex. I ain't leaving him here." Nebula sends me his location and I follow it quickly, staying in the shadows. "Get the kids out of here."
I get to his location and look around the corner carefully, noticing it was crawling with Skrulls. I pull things from my boots and would have to physically restrain three of them somehow. "OK..." I pull some rope from a pouch on my hip and throw the restraining tech at some of them, stepping out slightly to be able to see better. The remaining three run for me and I throw the rope around them, pulling it hard to tighten it around them. They fall to the floor and I quickly tie them up before looking around at them.
"Now, I'm going to ask this once and once only. Which one of you is Tex?"
"His name is Zotteox," One of them growl and I look at them, pressing a blaster to their forehead.
"Next question that only Tex would know. What's the code to my Quarters?" I whistle my arrow through the cameras and all of their wrist coms while I wait for an answer, walking around the room slowly as I send my arrow through their wrist coms.
"One, two, one, one, nine, six, three," One of them says and I blast them in the skull.
"Wrong." I stop next to one of them that reads Tex's location and look at them, noticing them not looking at me. I crouch and they glance at me. "Code to my Quarters, Tex?"
"Six... Zero... Two... One... Nine... Eight... Three..." He whispers before I lightly knick his arm and see the slightly darker shade of green blood, grinning slightly.
"Good to have you back, Tex. Mind helping me kill these bastards?" He looks at me as I let him loose and nods, taking the blaster I give him. "Don't backstab me, dude."
"I would never, Cap'n." We blast all of them out of the realm of the living and disembark from the ship.
Aleta levels a blaster at Tex and I stand in the way, looking at her. "Aleta. You have no right to be threatening my crew."
"But... But we told them what the code was to your Quarters," Jay says carefully and I look at him.
"No, you didn't."
"What?"
"I gave you the wrong code."
"Why?"
"Because I have a lot of codes to remember and I got them switched around." Aleta glares at me and still had the blaster raised. "Aleta, Tex is a good kid."
"He's a Skrull!"
"And I'm like fucking Ego! Gramps didn't use to fucking care about anything but getting units then he decided to keep Dad instead of turning him over to Ego! Just because he's a Skrull doesn't mean he's a dick like the rest of them! Our damned past or species doesn't fucking matter! What matters is what we decide to do in the here and fucking now! Tex has done nothing, and I mean nothing, to warrant me being suspicious of him! He's a good kid, a damned good Doc, and a fucking great Ravager! He could've come in to kill me at any damned time and hasn't! He's more loyal than the fucking Leads I got from you guys when I was first made Captain! He's my damned Lead Doc and if you've got a problem with that, it's too fucking bad so go ahead and kiss my damned ass!" I glare at her and she glares back. "Get back to the Winter. Now."
"What happened to the Autumn?"
"Assholes blew it up. Go." I glance around slightly and notice Loki and Indri were gone, Gamora holding Quill. "Where's Loki and Indri?" They look around and shrug.
"Oh, no need to worry. We have them right here." A Skrull comes around the corner with blasters in their backs and I look at them.
"Thought I killed you."
"Not yet, no. Zotteox, to me." Tex stays by me and the Leader narrows his eyes at him. "Zotteox, I am your father, you will obey me." He clenches his hands in fists at his side, looking away, and I look at the leader.
"So you're Manphaid?"
"You will not call me by my name, Slave!"
"Yeah, OK, whatever. Tex, that asshole isn't your father." Tex looks at me, confused, while Manphaid growls, pissed off.
"Yes, I am."
"Once he sold you, he cut off any claims he could make on you. If you don't want to, you don't have to go over there."
"That is where you are wrong!" We all look at Manphaid and he was smirking smugly. "They sold him back to me so I am now his owner!" Tex looks at me, worried, and I grind my teeth slightly.
"You want him that badly?"
"Yes."
"Two conditions," Tex looks at me in shock and I make a slight motion for him to remain calm.
"I am listening."
"First, you have to let those two go." He shoves them to the side and Loki quickly moves Indri behind him, guarding him with his body. "Secondly, you've got to get through me."
"That is all?" He laughs and I look at him. "Very well. I agree with your terms. Let us fight."
"We could just shoot him," Bucky points out and we all look up when we hear blasters charge up to see numerous Skrulls on the roofs of nearby buildings.
"Not if you wish to leave here with your lives," Manphaid smirks and I take off my duster and gloves.
"Captain, you ain't gotta do this," Tex tries pleadingly and I look at him.
"Tex, I've known you for ten years and I've watched you get to where you are now. There's no way in any of the fucking Hells I'm letting them take you."
"I want to help you, then..."
"Help me by staying away from this and holding my stuff. And staying away from Aleta..."
"I can do that." I smile and drop my weapons at his feet as well. "Is that a good idea?"
"Better than him grabbing them and using them against me. There's no point in them if he can move fast, anyway." He nods a bit and I grin slightly at him. "I'll be fine. And if I do get injured badly, I've got you to fix me up, right?" He nods and I pat his face gently since he had shifted back to his preferred look before going toward Manphaid as I pop my knuckles. "Alright, you rat bastard. Let's see what you've got." He raises a hand and I notice the Skrulls with blasters lower them slightly.
"If any of them try to interfere, shoot them. And when I kill this one, her head will serve as a reminder to all other slaves," He smirks and I go over, swinging at him. He ducks underneath my arm and shreds the side of my tank top with his claws, digging them into my side. "Come now. You must have more techniques than those."
"Cocky bastard," I snarl and punch him in the face, sending him staggering backward. I press a hand to my slide quickly and he lunges at me, managing to cut through the back of my tank top as I spin out of the way. "Great. Now I need a new shirt. Thanks." I pull it off and throw it at his face, blinding him.
I attack and punch him in the stomach before bringing his face down onto my knee. "Where the Hell did you learn this?" Rocket yells and I smirk.
"Kids on Terra. You wanted new techniques, you got them, Manphaid. Bitch." He pulls the torn tank top off of his head and lunges for me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I slam my elbows into his back and repeat the movement with my arms straightened out before doing it again, slamming my elbows into his head. He knocks me down and digs his claws into my back.
"Slave,"
"Cunt!" I punch him in the face and send him reeling off of me, noticing the other Skrulls raise their blasters again. I whistle sharply with Yondu and we take them out easily while Manphaid was struggling to his feet. I go over and he manages to grab me by the throat.
"Die!" I grab his collar and punch him in the face until he lets me go to instead punch me in the mouth with a hand weapon, knocking me onto my back. He gets on top of me and I cover my face while he beats at my arms and torso with the weapon. "Die!" I buck him off of me and pin him to the ground with my hand around his throat.
"Tex, come blast this dickhead!" Tex comes over and levels the blaster to his head while I stand, pressing my boot to his throat.
"He is too weak to do it," Manphaid sneers before I press his head further into the ground and I look at Tex.
"Hey," He looks at me. "If you don't want to, that's fine. It's just a symbolic gesture to show you're free of him." He blasts his head off after that and I nod slightly, wiping some blood away. He hands me my blaster and I attach it where it goes, looking at him a bit. "You good?" He nods and I look him over before patting his shoulder. "I don't buy that, but OK."
"You gonna throw me in the Brig?" I look at him and see the injuries he had received from the Skrulls had stayed despite the shift.
"Nah. You got enough from those assholes and Aleta trying to kill you. What is going to happen is you're going to treat the kids for any injuries immediately after fixing yourself up. Got it?" He nods and I nod back, going to get my duster and gloves as I pick up my tank top. "Fucking asshole ruined a good shirt."
"Whose names are those?" Peter asks and I look at my ribs, noticing the names.
"Crew that died. Both because of a rat giving our location to the Kree and because the Kree and Skrulls broke onto my ship, sending them into the deep. One of their sisters then helped lead a mutiny."
"And the one on your chest?"
"Jay got one like this after the Kree took his ring off of his finger. So... I got one too. They all have a reason and, kind of, a story behind them." I crouch and pull my gloves on, my back to them.
"Damn," Martinex breathes and I stand, pulling my duster on. "Those looked old, Rogue."
"They are. From that car crash." I pull my neckerchief from my pocket and slide it on before doing my duster up. I notice Irani out of the corner of my eye as I turn and had forgotten she was there, looking at her. "Right. Let me take these idiots back to my ship and I'll escort you back to your station on Xandar."
"Very well." I motion for everyone to head back toward the ships and they head that way, Loki taking Quill. I take up the rear and rub the back of my neck slightly, feeling insecure all of a sudden.