Drowning

One Year Post-Return

"Okay, so, first of all I can’t believe it’s taking this long for you jerks to get caught up—."

"Huuuurrrk!"

"It’s been a year, I even gave each of you recordings of mine and Nebula’s data dumps—."

"—oh God—urrrrk!"

"Quill! Be hungover a little quieter, would ya?! I’m tryin’ to brief the team here!"

"Fu—ohhhhh, no, no, no—ugh!"

Rocket sighed in defeat and rubbed his brows anxiously. “Fine. Let’s wait until Beer-Lord in there is done vomiting up almost a month’s worth of hard liquor. Thor, don’t give him no more o’ that New Asgardian brew, yeah?”

An hour later, the team was once again gathered into the common area of the ship. A holographic view of a large structure built into an asteroid hovered over them. Rocket blinked once, then turned to Groot. The Flora colossus had grown rapidly since returning to life, and was almost a full adult now.

“Groot, I said to pull up the Rock.”

“I am Groot?”

“No—that’s the Kyln, kid. I meant the Rock.”

A few taps on a tablet later, and an image of a large, well-built Terran man appeared on the display. Rocket sighed and rubbed his eyes in exasperation.

“The other Rock!”

“I am Groot!”

“Look, just—just give Nebula the tablet—and watch your fuckin’ language! Who taught you that word?!”

The Luphomoid took the tablet from the colossus as the latter gave his father-figure a withering glare and spread his arms towards him accusingly.

“Oh. Ahem. Anyway, this—”

Another asteroid-embedded structure appeared on the screen, this time populated with a few dozen ships and emblazoned with a Nova Corps symbol. Rocket smirked a little as the rest of the Guardians leaned in slightly to get a closer look.

“—is the Rock. After Thanos...well, y’know, destroyed Xandar...the Nova Officers and civilians that remained fled to a nearby asteroid field, where they established a mining facility slash colony in an effort to maintain some degree of control over their space. After the Decimation, not many of those were left, so they had to reach out to old enemies, including—.”

The raccoonoid swiped a claw across his own tablet, and a cluster of planets took the Rock’s place. Quill’s eyes widened slightly and he turned to face Nebula, who had continued where Rocket left off.

“The Sovereign. After Thanos, two-thirds of their colonies’ populations disappeared, including the High Priestess Ayesha and other top leaders. Those who were left were quick to establish relations with Nova, and through them, the new Sovereign leadership conveyed a desire to make amends with the Guardians for all perceived and actual offences committed against them. We—Rocket and I—accepted, and for the next two years we aided the Sovereign and Nova Corps in rebuilding this sector of our galaxy.”

Nebula fell silent as Rocket cleared his throat, and tapped a code onto his wristband. A nanite mesh began to flow outwards, coating his suit and forming into a white, red and black shell with a stylised ‘A’ on the left side of his chest.

“‘Course, we weren’t exactly representin’ just the Guardians back then. Me, Neb and this half-Kree lady—Carol Danvers, she’s really awesome—we acted as intergalactic ops for the Avengers. We cleaned up areas where the Terrans couldn’t or wouldn’t reach. Meanwhile, a few loyalists to our old friend Ayesha broke away from the Sovereign and went around recruiting folks. Started calling themselves the Universal Church of Truth. They knew what the Avengers—what we were hopin’ to accomplish, and hoo boy, they hate our flarking guts for it! Loonies practically worshipped that purple bastard—.

“Anyway, fast forwards to one year ago when everybody came back. That included Ayesha, and the Sovereign that vanished with her. They almost all joined up with the Universal Church, and the—I can’t believe I’m saying this—the half-decent Sovereign were their first targets. Church waited until they had built up a false sense o’ security, and then destroyed their entire planetary cluster last week. The remnants have fled to Nova, who are asking us to provide security at the Rock while they help them resettle because they still don’t have the manpower that they used to. Any questions?”

There was a long stretch of silence as the team processed this. Then Groot raised a hand tentatively.

"I am Groot. I am Groot...I am Groot?"

"Huh. Whatcha mean, 'what's the catch?' Why does there have to be a catch?"

Mantis looked at Rocket, a small frown flashing across her face before it reverted to a more neutral, wide-eyed expression. "You are agitated. Are they not offering us payment?"

"What? I dunno. Does it matter if they are? Are there any questions about the mission—?"

"Uh, just one—who died and made you captain all of a sudden?"

The raccoonoid flinched, ears flattening against his head and he bared his teeth at Quill. The Terran had stood up and circled the table, not quite face to face with Rocket but still too close for his comfort.

Nebula and Thor shared a glance. They could practically see the gears in Rocket's head turning as he processed what was said.

"Wha—really, Quill? That’s what you took away from this discussion?"

"Oh, that was a discussion, was it? It sounded more like you telling the rest of the team what we'd be getting involved in, possibly risking our lives for! We don't just take missions without telling each other! Not even for Nova—"

"Star-Lord, are you not the one who answered my ship's distress call for no expectation of payment—." Thor rose to stand behind Rocket, hands curled into fists and eyes flickering bright blue as he looked at Quill.

"Thor, pal, that's different, that was a distress signal and we just happened to be nearby! Rocket is just doing what he wants because he thinks he's captain—when we have other priorities—!"

Nebula stood next, not hesitating to get in Peter's face. "You have been absent as this team's captain for the better part of the last year! Drowning yourself in alcohol, spending every waking moment in some fantasy thinking Gamora will come crawling back to you—."

"Don't you dare talk about her! When the hell did you become so altruistic, Nebula?!"

"Since all of you were dead for five years!"

The look Nebula gave him silenced any retort building in Quill's throat. The looks on Rocket and Thor's faces silenced the rest of the Guardians. The cyborg swallowed once before continuing, never breaking eye contact with Star-Lord.

"Almost all of what I have known is what Thanos gave me. What he made me into. What he took from me. But you, Quill? Drax, Mantis, Groot—you were something different. My sister's family, not of blood, but hers nonetheless—and mine through her. Then Thanos took you from me. For five years Rocket and I kept your memories alive. For five years I watched him barely sleep while keeping this ship running, not once cleaning your cabins for fear of forgetting your scents. For five years we mourned together, and yelled at each other, but every time my arm was destroyed on a mission he always made me another, better than the last. Every time Rocket’s cybernetics failed because there was no one left to repair them, I was there helping him bear the pain he felt being forced to relive his entire life—relive losing you—as his memory drives rebooted. For five years I worked to become more than the monster that my father made me into, by helping those who could not help themselves, and asking nothing in return but for them to do the same. For five years we guarded what was left of the galaxy—without you. And you have the gall to question our motives now, after you have spent the past year wasting your life?"

There was an uncomfortable bout of silence as the Luphomoid pushed past Peter, the lock to her cabin clicking shut. When it became clear that nobody was going to speak, Rocket shook his head and started to walk towards his own cabin.

"Twenty-four hours, guys. Me and Neb will take the pod. If any of ya wanna come with, fine. Please, just—give us twenty-four hours. If we ain't back by then, Pete, then leave us behind. You're the captain. You gotta look out for your team."

There was no noise when Rocket’s door locked—his cabin and his alone was almost completely soundproofed. It had been for six years.

One by one the Guardians dispersed, and the Benatar continued to drift idly through the cosmos, as though nothing had changed.