Chapter 12
I was having issues typing and writing on the holopad with my hands being the way they are and wince slightly now and then, continuing to study because I need to know how to do it.
I hear people come in and ignore it to continue studying, writing on the holopad with a lot of pain. "Girl." I turn and stand, seeing Yondu there.
"Yes, Captain?"
"Yer goin' on this mission," He then leaves and I look at Nudran, confused.
"The guy has a thing for helping kids that are hurt. You, well... You're hurt."
"I see... When am I leaving?"
"As soon as you get some clothes that aren't those."
"I got some of those. Just got to have Segs adjust them."
"Segs has some ready for you already."
"How?"
"He works fast. Go." I go to Segs' workshop and he hands me some clothes that look raggedy.
"Change into these and Captain is waiting in the hangar for you. You may use that area there." He points towards a curtained-off area and I go over there, changing.
When I come out, he smiles at me and I smile back a bit. "Are your weapons still on you?"
"Yeah. I have them on underneath the clothes."
"Good." He hugs me and I hug him back, chuckling softly. "Good luck, my dear." He lets me go and kisses my hand gently. "Go, now. The captain is waiting. I will drop your clothes off in your room." I nod and leave, going to the hangar quickly.
Yondu was waiting with Kraglin in front of the Warbird and I follow them on board. "So, how's this going to work?" They don't respond as we strap in and I look between them a bit. "Nudran didn't give me much to go on. Just that the guy likes to help kids that are hurt. Can I get some more information on the plan?"
"Ya make it, kid. Tha' plan is yers ta make as ya do yer thing," Kraglin says shortly and I nod a bit.
"OK..." I'd bite my nails if it wouldn't cause me more pain so I tap my foot on the floor a bit and watch out the window as Yondu pilots.
"Stop tha'," Yondu growls and I stop, flexing my fingers slightly to see if they hurt any less. They hurt a little less, which is good, and I take a slow breath as we land on Girvagua. "Ya study the language?"
"Yeah. I get the gist of the letters and I know how to get to his favorite spot. I studied that too."
"Git tha' info, kid," Kraglin says and I nod, unstrapping to get off.
"Catch you guys on the flip side." I smile at them a bit and slide down the ladder to land on the planet. I let out a huff of breath and head toward his favorite spot. "Let's do this..." I go around some trees to hide looking back and see the ship just cloak itself, not leaving. "They wouldn't leave me here like that... Stop being paranoid..." I scoff and continue to the spot.
When I get there, I wait in an alley between it and another building and take the bandages off of my hands. "This is gonna fucking hurt..." I take a deep breath and punch the wall twice with each fist. "Fuck..." I growl softly and breathe through the pain. "OK... OK... I'm fine... Whew... Gods... Whew..." I see the target and he comes down the alley so I start the acting, crying and whimpering in pain as I curl up with my back to a wall.
He stops and looks at me. "Are you alright?" He gently helps me up and sees my hands. "Oh! Those look bad! Come with me!" He escorts me through the alley and I go with him, crying and sniffling the whole time.
Eventually, we get to his house and he leads me inside after putting a code into the front door. I trip and use that to quickly send the code to Yondu along with a message to say that it was to the outside doors on my wrist com. "Are you alright?" He helps me up and I nod, sniffling pathetically. "Oh, you poor girl..." He leads me to a bedroom and has me sit on the bed. He grabs a medkit and starts to dab something that burns on my knuckles, making me hiss.
"It's alright. It's to clean them up so I can bandage them properly." He does just that and his hands move to the waistband of my pants.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm making sure you aren't hurt anywhere else."
"I'm not. And not under my pants."
"That was quite the fall you took earlier." He keeps trying to pull my pants down and I kick him in the face. "Damn!" He falls backward and I roll off of the bed quickly, looking at him. "Come here, kid!" He lunges for me and I roll out of the way, hitting him in the side when he's on the floor.
"Girl!" Yondu yells and I turn, getting knocked down by the target.
"Got you now," He hisses with a wicked smirk and I grab my knife from the inside of my pants quickly. I stab him in the shoulder and he falls off of me with a scream. "You little bitch!" He takes the knife out and swipes at me as I stand, his body between me and the door. I lean backward and grab my other one from my shoulder blades, holding it in front of me. He lunges for me as I move the knife in front of me and the knife stabs him in the chest. He falls to the floor and shows Yondu and Kraglin standing there.
"I... I didn't get the other codes..." My hands drop to my side, my knife still in his chest, and they look at me. "I was just gonna stab him in the other shoulder... But... He..." I'm suddenly falling and Kraglin rushes forward, catching me before I hit the floor.
"Ya a'ight, kid?" He rights me and I nod a bit. "Yer sure?" I nod again and he slowly lets go of me. I don't fall and Yondu looks at me. "Wha' happened?"
"He bandaged my hands up... Then tried to take my pants off..."
Yondu suddenly whistles and his arrow is going through the guy's skull and body, causing both Kraglin and I to jump. "Cap'n?" Kraglin asks carefully and Yondu snaps his head up, looking at the two of us like he might kill us. I unconsciously take a step back and his face softens.
"Sorry, girl... Ya a'ight?" I nod and he nods back. "C'mon. We gonna fin' a way in them rooms." He leads the way out of the room and I follow with Kraglin at my side after he grabs my knives, pocketing something. "Ya got yer blaster, girl?"
"No, it would've been too obvious..." He nods and we get to a door that needed a code. I look at it and bite my lip a bit, thinking. "We could try to hack it... But then the... Whatever would be here... This might work..." I take Kraglin's blaster and point it at the handle before I fire.
The door swings open and I hold the blaster out to Kraglin. He tries to take it but my hand won't open and I pry my fingers open. "Wha'cha do ta yer hand?"
"They aren't made for punching walls." He nods and Yondu goes into the now open room. "Any other crew coming to help?" He shakes his head and I nod a bit. "Great... How many rooms we got?"
"Three, with tha' 'un."
"OK. Captain takes this one, I take one, and you take the last one so we get out of here." Yondu comes out, having a bag full of loot on his back, and I look at him. "Y'know, if you were fatter, had a hat, and some white fur, you'd kinda look like Santa Claus."
"Gods, not ya too," Kraglin groans and I chuckle.
"I'm just saying. Come on. We got a job to finish, right?" He nods and Yondu and I take the second one while Kraglin takes the third one.
"How we gittin' in 'ere, girl?" I look at it and think, hands on my hips. "Well?" He was smirking and I sigh.
"Look out..." I back up to the opposite wall and he moves, raising an eyebrow. "This is gonna hurt..." I let out a short breath and run at the door, ramming my shoulder into it.
It gives and I go tumbling inside with it, groaning loudly in pain. "Oh, Gods... Ow... That hurt so much more than I thought it would..." I stand and hold my shoulder as Yondu comes in, nodding. He pats my shoulder and I groan in pain. "Ow..."
"M'bad." He chuckles and fills the bag with the stuff in the room.
"Done, Cap'n," Kraglin says over Yondu's wrist com and he nods, finishing up.
"Time ta go, girl." He leads me out of the room and I follow, shoulder hurting so badly. Kraglin meets us at the front door and looks at me.
"Wha'cha do now?!"
"I busted through a door. The metal was... Weak... Dumb luck?" I shrug my uninjured shoulder and we quickly go back to the Warbird.
Once we're on, Kraglin pushes me to sit on the bunk and I let him, not bothering with arguing. "Could you at least be nicer?" He glares at me and I raise my hands slightly. "Never mind." He sits in the co-pilot's seat while Yondu sits in the pilot's seat and we're leaving the planet. I stand up once we're out of the atmosphere and carefully prod at my shoulder.
"Wha'cha doin'?" Kraglin was watching me, eyebrow raised, and I continue prodding my shoulder.
"On Terra, my shoulders would get dislocated. Like, a lot. I'm trying to see if that's what's up here." I prod at it a bit more before comparing the lengths to each other and nod a bit. "Awesome. Dislocated shoulder. Woo-hoo!" I say sarcastically and make my shoulders relax. "I found a couple of ways to get it back into place... First one's easy enough..." I reach my left arm behind my head and slowly move it to my right shoulder, hoping that would work.
"Tha' work, girl?"
"Nope." I put my arm down and blow a strand of hair out of my face. "Alrighty... Second way... That usually works..." I look around a bit and line my shoulder up to the bunk. "Fun..." I ram my shoulder against the bunk and feel it pop back into place, leaning against the bunk for a moment.
"Ya a'ight, kid?" I just nod and breathe slowly to deal with the pain as I sit back down on the bunk. "Yer sure?"
"Yeah..." We dock in the hangar and I go to get changed quickly.
When I'm changed, my stomach growls loudly and I go to Mess since it was around 1830. I go over to the line and Cookie looks at me. "Cookie!"
"Shut up." He gives me food and waves a tentacle at me. "Get away from me."
"You got it." I shrug one shoulder and head toward the mechanic's team's table to eat with them.
"You don't work in the hangar for an annual cycle, you don't sit here for an annual cycle," Cron says harshly and I look at him as he takes the last empty spot wide enough for me. "Mechanic's team rules for our table. Go sit somewhere else, kid." He starts to eat and I roll my eyes.
"Yeah, OK, Mean Girls." I go sit with Yondu at his table and Kraglin looks at me, surprised.
"Ya ain't sat 'ere fer a while."
"Glad to see you do pay attention." I roll my eyes, smirking a bit, and have to force my fingers to close around my eating utensil.
"Wha' was tha' 'bout?"
"Apparently... The mechanic's team has a rule about who gets to sit at 'their table'," I do slight finger quotes and roll my eyes. "Since I'm not working in the hangar for an annual cycle, I don't sit there for an annual cycle. So, you guys get to see my gorgeous face for the entirety of an annual cycle." I smirk and eat my food while they roll their eyes.
"Yer an idiot."
"You got that right, Krags. Gods, if I punch another wall, I don't think that I'll be able to use my hands again," I scoff, flexing my left-hand fingers, and keep eating.
"Then you should stop punching walls." I look up to see Dad standing there and he was smirking. "Miss me?"
"Nope," I pop the 'p' and he rolls his eyes, sitting next to Kraglin. "It was fairly peaceful without you here."
"Not sure how you classify getting put in a fight to the death, getting the shit beat out of you by Yondu, and having a creep feel you up as peaceful, but OK," He scoffs and tries to steal some of my food.
I stab him with the spoon-like utensil and he takes his hand back, kinda glaring at me. "My food. No touch." He rolls his eyes and I continue eating, finishing.
"You're an idiot."
"Yup. Learned from you." I smirk at him and deal with my tray, having to pry my fingers open to drop my spoon thing. I start to leave Mess and Dad stops me. "Yes?"
"Have a seat so we can talk."
"OK..." I roll my eyes and sit down, looking at him. "What?" He looks uncomfortable and I cross my legs, resting my elbow on the table.
"Well... 'Mora thought it would be a good idea to..." He looks over my head and smiles. "Thank Gods..." He mutters under his breath and Gamora sits across from me with some food. I turn and look at her.
"Hello, Rogue." She smiles at me and I lift my fingers in greeting, staring at her. "Yes, Rogue?"
"What's your idiot of a man wanting to tell me but is too awkward to spit out?" She looks at Dad and he shrugs a bit.
"It feels weird to talk to her about it..." She rolls her eyes and looks at me.
"I wanted your Father to ask you to be the flower girl for the wedding. Which we have planned for tomorrow."
"OK, I know I'm short, but not a three-year-old level of short. I'm not doing that. I can't even bend my fingers around something without having to pry them back open. Meaning, I can't do that. Now... I'm leaving. Thank you for asking me to do that, but..." I flex my fingers slightly and it takes a moment to uncurl them. "That ain't gonna make it easy to do anything. Bye." I stand and leave Mess, going back to Nudran's workspace because it was quiet.
I sit in the chair from earlier and bend my fingers around my pen to practice writing the other languages, gritting my teeth against the pain. Someone walks in and I continue to work on it. "Rogue."
"Yeah, Gamora?" She sits across from me and I glance at her before focusing on my work again.
"I would like for you to be a part of the wedding. So would Peter. He says that you look like a mix of your mother and his mother. It would mean the world to him if you would be there." I look at her and she was watching me intently.
"I wasn't kidding when I said that earlier... And... I don't want to be the flower girl... Anything else you'd want me to do? I can steal some booze from Captain's quarters for a party?" I suggest and she kinda glares at me. "Kidding." I smile and she rolls her eyes.
"Alright. Nebula is guiding me down the aisle at Peter's insistence. You may say something after Stakar asks..."
"Who gives you away to marry Dad?" She nods and I nod back. "I can do that." I smile and she smiles back, leaving. "Ooh... This is gonna be fun..." I continue working on the languages until I can barely keep my eyes open and go to my quarters to collapse on my bunk, falling asleep quickly.
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When 0500 rolls around, I roll out of bed and stretch before going to Mess, yawning as I walk. "Cookie..." I yawn again and he just hands me food with a drink to help me wake up. "Thanks..." I go to Yondu's table and sit, not noticing that Yondu and Kraglin were the people sitting there. "Morning..." I drink the thing Cookie gave me and set the cup down after a small drink, more awake now.
"What the fuck did you give me, Cookie?!" I turn to look at him and he was cackling.
"Enjoy!" He cackles and turns to do other stuff while I turn back around.
"Oh, hey." I look at Yondu and Kraglin and they were snickering softly. "What's so funny?" Kraglin just points at me while he drinks his drink and I raise an eyebrow at him. "Also, how long have you two been here?"
"A while."
"Oh... Huh..." I finish my drink and start to eat the food with my fingers.
"Dude, you have a spork right there," Dad scoffs as he sits across from me and I roll my eyes slightly.
"Dude, I have fingers that don't want to work unless I force them to move. I'm not using a damned spork to eat."
"Wouldn't have that problem if you didn't punch walls. Why did you, anyway?"
"Figured punching one of these two would be a terrible idea and I was pissed. Trying to bend the wall to my will seemed like a good way to deal with it."
"You're an idiot."
"Learned from you. Why are you up so early, anyway? You're usually not in here until 0700. And it's only going toward 0530. Gamora kick you off of the Milano?" He doesn't respond and I smirk. "Guess she did." I finish my food and reach over to wipe my fingers on Dad's arm.
"Seriously?!" I smirk and deal with the tray, heading to leave. "Have a seat. You don't have anything to do until Nudran drags his ass out of his bunk."
"True." I sit back down and carefully unwrap my hands, having to use my teeth because my fingers prove useless in doing that.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm tired of having my hands wrapped up like this. If I'm still bleeding, that's an easy fix," I explain around tearing the wraps off of my right hand with my teeth and just drop the wraps on the table for now. Dad picks them up and throws them away. I force my fingers into forming a fist before straightening them out again and repeating it with my other hand.
"Now what are you doing?"
"Trying to force my hands to work. Obviously." I roll my eyes and clench my left hand into a fist before trying to straighten it out again, which takes a moment. I repeat it with my right hand and it straightens out immediately. "See? Mind over matter works. For once in my life..." I scoff softly and notice my knuckles were bleeding again. "Well damn." I pull the scarf-like thing Yondu had given me to have around my neck over my head and wipe the blood away with it.
"You could let Doc fix them up. Instead of demanding they just wrap them up like you did yesterday," Dad says in an unamused tone and I raise an eyebrow at him as I continue to deal with my bleeding knuckles.
"I'm getting the feeling that's you attempting to scold me. Am I right?" He nods and I nod slightly. "I see... Well... I'll apologize next time I see them. Happy?" He nods and I leave my knuckles alone for a moment.
They don't bleed and I look at the neck thing, noticing that it was red originally. "Meh." I put it back on and pull my hair out so it wasn't pinned against my neck. Dad looked like he wanted to be disgusted and I look at him. "What? It's already red so it hides the bloodstains. It's fine." He rolls his eyes and I leave my hair down.
"OK, subject change... Krags."
"Wha'?" He looks at him, taking his time eating, and takes a bite.
"I want you to be my best man."
"Dude. You're giving him a shitty amount of time to plan a bachelor party. Y'know that, right?"
"The wedding's late in the afternoon, after sunset. If he agrees, it'll be easy to plan one and Mantis already has a bachelorette party planned for Gamora. So, shut up, Rogue."
"At least I don't take two years to do something." He opens his mouth to respond before closing it again and I smirk slightly.
"How are you going to be part of it, then?"
"Gamora said I could say something after Stakar asks who gives her to be married to you."
"Don't say anything stupid."
"I'm offended that you think I'd say something stupid while also amazed that you know me so well."
"What were you going to say?"
"Something about since Nebula was giving Gamora away to marry you, I was begging her to take you." I shrug and he rolls his eyes.
"You're an idiot. Love you too, kid."
"I'm learning to be an idiot from you, dumbass. And yeah, whatever." I roll my eyes and he reaches over to mess my hair up. "Oh, you asshole." He snickers and I smooth my hair down slightly. "I fucking hate you." He laughs and I glare at him, having difficulty with fixing my hair because my fingers weren't cooperating.
"Want some help?"
"No. Fuck you, Quill." Jay had come in at some point and was about to come over to talk to me but Cron stops him.
"Don't be stupid. Captain would kill you on sight if you went up there. Sit down, kid," He says simply as he makes him sit and sits next to him. "Hurry up and eat because we have to work more to be able to keep everything running the way it should since that kid got kicked out of the hangar for an annual cycle."
I hear him talking shit and take my knife out, spinning it on the table slightly. "People talking shit is not a good enough reason for killing them. And your aim with throwing those knives is shitty," Dad says simply and I look at him slightly. "It's obvious you want to throw it at him."
"I'm allowed to have my knife out without planning to injure some dumbass that can't seem to keep up with a kid in a job they've been doing for more than two years." I spin my knife slightly in my hand and hold it out to Dad, handle first. "If you think you can throw it better than I can, have at it."
"I'm good. Put it up." I shrug and put it back in its holster between my shoulders, noticing Cron glaring at me.
"What? Got some more shit to spew?" He doesn't respond and just eats, muttering something where I can't hear him. "Now can I throw my knife at him? That type of shit annoys the Hell out of me."
Jay suddenly hits Cron in the face with his empty tray and we all look at him, silent. "What the fuck, kid?" He snarls as he stands and I'm moving before I realize what I'm doing. Cron moves to swing at Jay and I kick him in the back of his knee, making him fall to the floor. "What the fuck are you doing getting in the middle of this?" He growls at me and I look at him as he stands.
"If you can't manage to handle the hangar down one kid, imagine if you were down two. I was doing you a favor. Don't make me have to do you another favor or it won't be as nice as this one. Get it, got it? Good. Bye." I look at Cron before going toward the door of mess since the rest of the crew was filing into line, and Dad was standing, opening his mouth to yell something.
"Rogue!" Jay yells and I turn before I quickly duck as Cron swipes at me with a knife, the mess silent.
"Got something else to say, kid?" Cron swipes at me with the knife again and I dodge it. He lunges for me and I spin out of the way, right foot getting flung behind my left one so that I'm facing him with my shoulder toward him. "What? Didn't learn to fight back, just to dodge?" He smirks coldly at me and swipes at me. I grab his wrist, twisting it hard, and pin his hand to the small of his back, taking the knife away from him.
"Oh, I did learn to fight. I was just trying not to damage your pride." I set the knife on the table and shove him away from me, making him stumble slightly. "I also learned to not be a coward and try to stab someone in the back." He rights himself and turns to glare at me. "So, to put it simply, fuck you, Cron." He swings at me and I lean backward to avoid it. "Really?" I raise an eyebrow at him and he swings at me again. "Alright."
I avoid the swing and grab my thigh knife as he swings at me again. I catch his arm and just press the knife against his wrist, looking at him as he freezes. "You done being a jackass or do you need to be down a hand?" I growl and he doesn't respond. I just let him go and leave mess, tired of being in there now because it feels like I'm suffocating with all of the eyes on me.
Mantis sees me and smiles brightly. "Rogue!" She runs over and hugs me. I hug her back awkwardly and pat her back gently before she lets me go. "Are you coming with me, Gamora, Nebula, and Aleta for Gamora's party?" I look past her and see everyone she mentioned waiting just inside the hangar by a ship I haven't seen yet. "I am sure that Gamora would love it and you can help us find fun things to do!"
"I've gotta get to work..." I start to walk backward and someone stops me. I look up and see Nudran. "Right, Nudran? We've got to get to work..." He looks at me and smirks. Damnit...
"Go on ahead with them if they want you to, kid. I'll be able to handle it today. It'll be slow cuz we just got off of a mission. Go on!" He pushes me toward Mantis and she squeals before she drags me into the hangar while I kinda glare at Nudran. He snickers and goes to work.
"Gamora! Rogue wishes to come with us and Nudran said that she may!" Mantis hollers and they all look at me.
"I can stay here. You don't have to take me with you guys. I've seriously got stuff to do," I kinda plead with them and Aleta smirks, looking at Gamora.
"I'm sure that we have room for one more. Right, Gamora?"
"I can stay here. Seriously." Gamora looks at me then Mantis and smiles a bit.
"Come on, Rogue. It will be fun."
"Yay!" Mantis claps and smiles brightly at me. "This will be very enjoyable!"
"Yay!" I give her a smile that's more of a grimace and she drags me onto the ship behind her, not touching any bare skin. She sits in one of the many chairs and I sit in the one next to her before we both strap in while the others do the same.
"This will be very much fun, Rogue!" She smiles a bright smile and I smile back a bit, relaxing slightly as we leave the hangar.
"Where are we going?"
"That's a surprise," Aleta smirks at me and I nod a bit, not sure how else to respond. She and Nebula pilot and I glance over at Gamora slightly to see her waiting patiently. I settle back into the chair and wait to get to wherever we're going.
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When we land, Aleta makes us all leave our weapons on board and I stand awkwardly to the side. "You too, kid. Blaster, knives. Hand them over." I unhook my blaster and knife holster from my thigh and waist before dropping them in the box she was holding out. "Your other knife too."
"Gods..." I take my duster most of the way off and unhook my shoulder knife holster, dropping it in the box too before putting my duster back on fully. She raises an eyebrow at me and I sigh before I take out two blades from my sleeves, putting them in the box too. She waits and stares at me expectantly. "What?"
"I know Yondu and Kraglin have you packing more heat than just this. Fork it over." I huff out a breath and lift my foot off of the floor, pulling two twin blades from my boot before doing the same with my other boot. I then pull out two disks from the back of my waistband and put them in the box too. "Do I have to pat you down myself?"
"Jesus fucking Christ," I mutter under my breath and take my duster off, doing a small spin while showing my arms. "That's everything I have that can kill somebody. Well..." I pull some stuff out of my pockets and carefully put them in the box. "I forgot about those. And these..." I take out two more disks from my back pockets and put them in the box. "Now that's everything." Mantis looked very surprised at the number of weapons I had and I shrug slightly as I pull my duster back on while Aleta puts the box on the bunk.
"Alright. Let's go, girls." Aleta leads the way off of the ship and I debate about swiping a small blade. Gamora leads me off of the ship before I can decide and I just follow. I look around a bit and was shocked but hide it well.
"Huh. Cool." I follow them inside and we get food first because it was a long flight. "So... What is this place?"
"An amusement park. Sort of," Aleta explains and hands me some food that looks like funnel cake.
"Cool." We sit at a table and I notice a flash of something that looks familiar. "Hm..." I go over to the railing and snort. "Hey! Who let you, idiots, in here?!" The others come over to look and smile. Yondu, Kraglin, Stakar, Martinex, Dad, Rocket, Drax, and Jay were below the railing and I smirk mischievously. "Hey, Jay!"
"Hey, Rogue!"
"That's a nice shirt! Can I talk you out of it later?" He blushes a bright blue and smirks up at me a bit.
"You trying to get us killed?" I shrug and he rolls his eyes. "All you need to do to talk me out of it is make a promise to wear it to my quarters one night!" He dodges hits from all of them, but Rocket and Drax, with ease, and I laugh with those two.
"Hey! Don't beat him up too bad!" Dad catches Jay in a headlock and looks up at me. "What? Making you have a conniption makes my day!" Mantis was laughing and Dad narrows his eyes at me before letting him go, hitting him upside the head.
"Don't get in any trouble!" He points at me and I manage to look offended.
"I would never! Now go away!" He rolls his eyes but the guys move on and I go to get the food.
"That was very funny!" Mantis giggles and I smile, nodding my agreement as I eat. "Why were they so upset at what Jay said?"
"It implied that Rogue would sleep in the same room as Jay and would be seducing him by wearing his shirt," Gamora explains and I just shrug as I eat. "Have you figured out what you're going to say, Rogue?"
"Um, I'm gonna find another way to be part of the celebration, OK?" She nods and we all eat.