Scalpels

“Gods, yes.”

Proxima threw her head back against the crate she was pinned upon, nails digging into the lithe shoulders of her husband as he slammed into her.

The dull thumping of her back on the metal crate echoed lightly throughout the cargo hold, the rhythmic sound only interrupted by the couple’s quiet moans. Corvus became slightly erratic in his thrusts, going fast and hard into her before falling over the edge. A few more pumps of his hips, gloved fingers skating down to the juncture of their bodies to help, brought his wife with him. Satisfied, he knocked his forehead lightly against her own, holding Proxima up as her legs trembled around his waist.

“Proxima! Proxima! You’re back! Guess what, guess what!”

Their eyes, lazy and half-lidded with contentment, shot open. Frantically, Corvus pulled away from his wife, claws fumbling to tuck himself away and readjust his armor as Proxima shimmied her suit back in place. She had barely finished the zipper when the flood lights of the cargo bay flashed on, casting away the darkness that had just surrounded them.

Squinting against the harsh fluorescent beams, Proxima grumbled out an answer. “What is it, Gamora?”

“Father made me my own sword!” A tiny pattering of feet sounded to their left, hurrying down the main pathway. The green child slid to a halt, peering down their row of crates. “Oh, hi Corvus. Why are you all the way back there?”

Proxima glanced at Corvus, their gazes crossing for a split second before he turned to Gamora. “Midnight used up more rations than anticipated on her trip. Just checking that we had enough to replenish them without a supply run,” he smoothly lied.

Gamora, apparently accepting his answer, gave a shrug, the kind that children do when they’re only listening due to some ingrained politeness. “Come on, come on, I’ve showed everyone else already, you have to see it!”

And she ran back into the bowels of Sanctuary, Corvus and Proxima trailing bemusedly behind.

----------

“Do you think Cull would help us?”

“Maybe, but do you really think he would know about that?”

“I don’t wanna go to the med bay!”

“What about the Maw?”

“Ew, no, he’ll pull out the needles!”

“Why don’t you want to ask Proxima, she’ll definitely know!”

“I didn’t want to bother her again. And Corvus changed their passcode the other day,” Gamora grumbled. The preteen crossed her arms, brow furrowed.

“Gamora!” Nebula continued their whispered conversation. “I can try to get in?”

Gamora had been training for a few years now, but Nebula, two years younger and still relatively new to Sanctuary, had just started. She had taken to mechanics more quickly than Gamora could ever dream, working closely with the Maw to learn the ship’s systems.

The two sisters shared a glance before hopping out of their bunks, padding quietly down the corridors toward Corvus and Proxima’s quarters. As they approached the door, they could make out a subtle creaking, like one of the adults was jumping on the bed. The two sisters shared a confused glance; neither one could imagine that scene.

“Maybe something’s wrong?” Nebula whispered, her large black eyes wide with concern.

“Just open the door, then we can help,” Gamora hissed back.

Nebula clumsily opened the metal container attached to her belt, pulling out a small tool. She fumbled attaching it to the lock pad, haste making her jumpy.

A low groan reverberated through the room, and then they heard a muffled shriek, surely from Proxima. The siblings turned to each other, eyes wide and alight with fear. “Hurry!”

Nebula gnawed at her lip, twisting and turning her tool until the reset hologram popped up. She quickly typed out a new code and had the door sliding open seconds later.

“Proxima! Are you okay?” Gamora shouted, bursting into the quarters. She squinted hard, eyes adjusting from the harsh light of the hallway to the pitch darkness of the room.

The woman in question was desperately scrambling to get off of her husband, her legs catching in the sheets as she tried to un-straddle his waist. Corvus pushed himself up, bumping her off of him, and she landed beside him with an ungraceful thud. Thankfully, her husband had already drawn the blankets over his lower half, and she pulled the remaining covers over her chest.

Nebula peered into the room, slipping in behind Gamora, shutting the door behind her and activating the lights.

“Is there something wrong, you two?” Corvus growled, sitting up against the headboard. Proxima was slumped beside him, blanket drawn up almost over her eyes in exasperation.

----------

Proxima slashed down with her spear, its beam cutting through the line of soldiers in front of her. Beside her, the Maw waved his hands, tossing their opposition around like flies, lobbing the occasional body towards Cull, who promptly out swung his hammer. The army that had been awaiting them was now almost obliterated.

“A foolish endeavor, and it makes their punishment all the worse.” The Maw called out to her with a wry smirk.

Caught up in the adrenaline from battle, she let out a full-throated laugh in response. There were just a few dozen left. Sensing a pause, she turned to watch Corvus, who was responsible for the girls. Gamora and Nebula circled the soldier he had corralled for them, pouncing with vicious intent and almost-perfect technique. A lazy swipe of his glaive here, a thrust there, kept any threats away as their wards learned the ways of balance.

She glanced toward their breaching ships, where Thanos was now making his way out to the field. She couldn’t hear what he said to Corvus, but her husband nodded, leaving the girls with the Titan as he made his way over to her.

A twitch of her head, and then they were both sprinting towards Cull, ready to join him to finish off the last squadron of troops.

It felt like mere seconds, and then the Order was surrounded by dead bodies, Cull and the Maw already making their way towards the city center with Thanos.

She felt her husband thread his fingers into her hair and yank back hard, his mouth on hers, hot and needy as his lips moved against her own. She moaned into him, hips grinding onto him, the battle too powerful of an aphrodisiac for them both.

Reluctantly, she pulled away from him, heat already pooling between her legs.

“He best make this quick,” Corvus growled against her neck.

The couple took a moment to compose themselves before turning to follow their allies, failing to notice how a flustered green teenager was trailing slightly behind the others.

----------

They had a private room with a perfectly lovely bed, but Proxima suspected that Corvus enjoyed the risk of being walked in on.

Hence why she found herself against the cool metal of a crate in a storage room, yet again.

Of course, it could’ve also been due to the fact that she was raging through the compound moments prior, striking out at anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in her way.

Corvus hadn’t pulled his wife aside with the intent of sex. But as he had snatched her wrist and, using considerable strength, dragged her into the storage unit, she hadn’t stopped thrashing. He wasn’t sure what exactly had happened on her outing, but he knew that she needed to calm down quickly, before Thanos called for her report.

So he did the only thing he could think of to give her pause, smashing his lips onto hers.

And neither one of them stopped, which is why he had her pinned onto the crate, hips thrusting to meet hers.

Proxima felt the claws of his gloves dig into her thighs, almost to the point of pain. The metal of his armor was scraping the inside of her legs as he moved, bringing her back to reality. A light clank snapped her attention.

“Stop!” She swatted at him.

Paused, they could hear the telltale echo of footsteps running down the hallway. Corvus sniffed, trying to track the scent of their observer through the musk of Midnight.

Slowly, he began to rock back into her. “Just Gamora,” he breathed into her neck.

----------

“I think you’ve scarred them.”

“As if your explanation of intercourse didn’t.” Proxima snapped back at the Maw.

“My discussion was purely theoretical. You made it reality.”

Midnight rolled her eyes. “So what, the girls have seen more of Corvus than they would have cared to. It was his rear, no harm done. They’ve walked in on us more times than they’ve realized. Of course,” she paused to give her friend a pointed look, “now they’ll have figured out what all the previous times were actually, thanks to you.”

They let the silence sit between them, hearing the distant echoes of Corvus and Cull’s sparring down the hall. A thumping sound grew louder from the opposite end of the hallway. Proxima and Maw stood at attention, moving out from behind their tea table to greet Thanos.

They cannot stay sheltered forever, the Maw projected into her head. It lay heavy in her mind; there was much more than sex in his comment.

“Sire,” he intoned as Midnight inclined her head.

“I want you to take Gamora and Nebula on your next scouting trip. It’s time they learned something that this ship cannot provide.”

“Of course, sir.”

----------

The girls were quiet as they disembarked from their Q-ship, staying a few paces behind Proxima and the Maw. They didn’t know what exactly had happened, but on their return from the exoplanet they had been scouting, the Maw said something to Proxima and she had snapped.

Gamora could feel the irritation seeping out of the blue woman’s pores. She and Nebula shared a cautious glance. Even as they approached the cusp of adulthood, neither was yet willing to go toe-to-toe with their mentors… particularly when one was in so clearly a foul mood.

“Go with the Maw and report to Thanos.” And with that, Midnight stalked off down the opposite hallway.

The Maw rolled his eyes in return.

----------

“I wonder what exactly the Maw said…” Nebula mused as the sisters walked back to their quarters.

Gamora scoffed. “Who knows, he always manages to push everyone’s buttons just so.” She was flipping her dagger back and forth in her hand as they went.

Nebula rolled her eyes. “Way to state the obvious,” she grumbled. “Still, it is unlike him to choose to push Proxima’s buttons, of all people. I could almost taste her fury. Bet you twenty units she’s killed a guard already.”

They turned corner, passing an open storeroom on their trek down the hall.

A clattering down made them double back, weapons readied.

Once their eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and they realized it was Corvus and Proxima, they hurried away, feeling like little children again.

Without another word, the sisters went to their respective quarters, cheeks stained dark in embarrassment.

Later, when Gamora had settled into her bed, she felt a strange confusion. What the Maw had explained to them was so clinical, and it most definitely did not describe what they had glimpsed from their married mentors over the years…

In the fleeting thoughts before she succumbed to sleep, she could only think of how odd it was that simple hip movements could tamper Proxima’s ire so quickly…

Like magic….

Pelvic sorcery.