Chapter 5
“I said create a distraction,” Gamora snapped at Rocket, “Not give away the location of our ship!”
“Explosions are very distracting! I, personally, have distracted lots of people with explosions! I’ve never seen someone fail to be distracted!”
“I am Groot!”
“That’s right,”, Rocket agreed. “If you wanted us to avoid giving away the position of the ship, you should have specified!”
Gamora sighed and readied her weapons. “We’re going to need to charge in head-on and see if we can have a stealth team slip past them while the rest of the crew keeps them too occupied to search the rest of the base. Mantis is with me, Aooo, Rocket, Drax, and Groot are the distraction.”
“I want to go with you,” said Aooo. “I want to seer what condition Bee-dur is in.”
“We don’t have time for personal feelings. If it’s possible to bring him back, I will.”
“I can arrest Zilnor, if he’s alive. And I do have training in armed and unarmed combat. Also, would you rather have an officer of the law watching what you do, or what Rocket does?”
That last part was an annoyingly good point.
“Aooo, you’re with me. Mantis, stay here with the rest of the crew.” Gamora wasn’t going to babysit more than one other person while going to rescue Peter.
“May I kill them?” Drax asked.
“If you need to. Try not to,” said Gamora.
“I am still confused about the rules around when it is and isn’t acceptable to kill,” said Drax.
“I am Groot.”
“Thank you, Groot,” said Drax. “That makes much more sense.”
“Everyone armed?” Gamora asked.
“I am,” said Aooo.
“My knives are at the ready.”
“You have no idea how many weapons I have ready.”
“I am Groot!”
“I...I do not have weapons,” said Mantis.
Gamora handed Mantis a blaster. “Point, touch here, and shoot. If you need to, hang back and stay near Drax.”
“I will protect her,” said Drax.
“Okay, fine. Nothing else?”
“I am...” Groot started.
“Nothing else that’s so urgent it’s worth risking Peter’s life with another delay?”
Groot stopped and shook his head.
“Finally, here we go.”
—
The plan worked better than Gamora had hoped. She’d neutralized three soldiers and slipped past the bulk of the crowd, while Rocket was distracting everyone with a weapon approximately the size of his entire body.
Aooo was keeping up effectively. She was, Gamora had to admit, competent. After they’d passed the main security force, Gamora had quietly taken down three guards.
Down, not out.
(Remember, child, you cannot trust that your opponent will stop until he’s dead. A live opponent can still fire a weapon or signal for help. Death is the only way to definitively end a fight. Do not be shy about death. Do not hesitate to kill. Everyone dies, and it can be the kindest, cleanest thing to bring death when it’s needed. She wasn’t like that, though, she wasn’t who he’d made her. She was her own person, and she could choose not to kill.)
Now all they had to do was find Peter and try to get everyone out alive.
—
“You,” said Aooo, pointing to a fleeing man in a white jumpsuit, “Stop!”
The man stopped. “Don’t kill me, I only clean the floors!”
“Nova Corps.” Aooo flashed a badge. “I’m rescuing a kidnapping victim. If you point me to the lab, I’ll speak in favor of you at the trial.”
The man hesitated, looking around wildly.
“I’ll also tell you which way to run where the attackers aren’t.”
The man nodded. “The lab, Zilnor’s lab, right? It’s straight down this corridor until you hit the second left, and then behind the black door. His last subject died a week ago, though, so I don't think he has anyone at the moment.”
“Thank you,” said Aooo. “If you turn right, you’ll be far away from the attackers. They don’t intend to sweep through the base, so you should be safe.”
The man nodded, then ran down the corridor on the right.
Aooo glanced at Gamora. “Come on!” She ran ahead.
Gamora took off running, following Aooo. That wouldn’t have occurred to her. She would have gone directly to at least threatening to hurt the man. She didn’t have the instinct to talk to people, unlike Aooo. Or Peter.
The thought that Aooo might have more in common with Peter than Gamora did left her strangely bothered.
—
Inside the lab stood an orange alien, tinkering with a large jug of blood.
Peter lay on a chair. He turned his head towards her as she walked in, and grinned. He was pale, and seemed to have trouble moving.
Gamora realized with a sickening feeling that the blood in the large jug was his.
“Nova Corps!”, Aooo shouted, drawing her weapon “You’re under arrest for kidnapping, assault, and non-consensual sale of biological extracts!”
Zilnor turned. “Is it...are you Aooo? Oh my, this is a reunion.” He stepped closer.
Aooo pointed her weapon at Zilnor. “I said freeze.”
“I remember you. I was fond of you. I used to like to buy you some sweet. Remember? You wanted to share it with Bee-dur, but he didn’t like it, so you got a double portion.”
Aooo’s weapon trembled.
“I was so sad when you ran away,” said Zilnor. “That boy filled you with lies and scared you into leaving with those awful Ravagers. I was worried about what they’d do you. Was it bad?”
“They took me to my uncle,” Aooo said, her voice faltering. “I said you’re under arrest!”
“I know,” said Zilnor. “Your uncle, was he nice?” He took a step closer, keeping his eyes keenly on Aooo.
“He was.”
“Good.” He took a step closer, and, with one of his lower arms, grabbed a vial of something. “I’m glad you had a good home.” He stepped forward, his lower left arm started to move...
Gamora slammed him into the wall. The vial shattered on the floor, and began eating away at it with a hissing noise.
Aooo gave Zilnor a stun-blast, and he dropped to the floor.
Gamora ran over to Peter. “Did he hurt you?”
“Not really,” said Peter. He tried to sit up and then slipped and fell black. “It’s...okay, i probably need more blood than I have in me right now, but I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute, and I’ll be up and ready to go.”
They had no time.
Gamora scooped Peter up in her arms. He was solidly built, but with her enhanced strength, he was well within her capacity to carry while running.
Peter leaned his head against her shoulder. “Kind of hoping we could do this the other way around.”
“Ready to go?” Gamora asked.
Aooo looked up. “Yes.” She had Zilnor trussed up in some net-like arrangement and slung over her shoulder. She caught Gamora’s expression. “I told you, I’m Nova Corps, I’m here to arrest him.”
“Can you carry him?” Gamora asked. It seemed like the smart option would be to kill him. She wasn’t in favor of unnecessary killing, but killing the man who’d kidnapped and murdered dozens of people seemed entirely necessary. Not to mention what he’d done to Peter.
"I'm stronger than I look."
“Okay, let’s go.”
—
The run back was actually easier and calmer. By the time they’d gotten back, most of the security staff seemed to be groaning and bleeding on the floor.
Drax was standing over them, smiling. “It is satisfying to attack these enemies without killing them! It allows them to suffer and regret their choices!”
“I am Groot!”, called out Groot, shoving several security guards against the wall.
“Indeed, valiant Groot!”
“Let’s get everyone back to the ship.”
—
As soon as they were on board, Rocket scampered into the pilot seat and took off. Gamora gently set Peter down on a low seating area.
Peter sat up carefully. “That was embarrassing.”
“What was?”, asked Gamora.
“You know, the guy is supposed to carry the girl to safety.”
“That would have been impractical,” said Drax. “Gamora is strong and powerful, while you are currently weak and helpless.”
“I mean just...guys are supposed to be strong and tough and able to rescue girls.”
“Gamora is and always has been far stronger than you. You are always weak compared to her. On your world, is that how wooing is done? Males have to woo someone weaker, and females need someone stronger?”
“Drax,” said Peter, in an annoyed voice.
“That makes no sense,” said Drax. “What if there are two men or two women? How do they decide who is suitable? And what if there is an exceptionally strong and powerful woman, like Gamora? Is she to be alone forever because compared to her all men are weak and puny? Is she only allowed to woo women, who might desire her strength? And is a weaker man, like you, forever undesirable, or only an acceptable mate to other men?”
“Not helping, Drax.”
“Is that why you and Gamora cannot...”
“That’s enough, Drax,” said Gamora.
“Everyone, hold on to something,” called out Rocket from the bridge. “I’m about to trigger the explosion!”
“Rocket, don’t,” said Gamora.
“What’s this don’t crap?”
“Don’t. We don’t need to kill everyone on there.”
“You said I could blow up everything!”
“Aooo sent a signal to Nova Corps,” said Gamora. “They’ll arrest the survivors. If we blow everything up, though, they’ll arrest us for murder.” She glanced at Aooo and gave a slight nod.
“Yes, that’s true,” said Aooo, catching Gamora’s eye. “You’ve been very cooperative, so I’m giving a warning, but I couldn’t ignore murder if it happened right in front of me.”
“Nobody lets me have any frikkin fun,” grumbled Rocket.
—
Peter was sitting up in the kitchen area having a glass of water when Aooo showed up. (He didn’t know what was in the black stuff, but Zilnor had said something about hydration, so water might help, right?)
“How are you?” Aooo asked.
“Fine,” said Peter. He felt better. Picking up a glass of water was barely effort, and he could walk a few steps if he kept his hand against the wall.
“That’s good.” Aooo put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad I found you again. I always wondered what happened to you, and it’s good to know the answer.”
“Thanks. It’s good to see you too,” said Peter. He took another sip of water.
“When I first saw this crew, I was worried. I thought they were something else you needed to be rescued from. But now I get it. You all make each other better.”
“We try.”
Aooo gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I’m glad you found a home.”
She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek.
“Take care of yourself, Peter.
—
Rocket came in about ten minutes later. “So, Quill, you still need to be carried around?”
“I didn’t need to be carried, Gamora just wanted to move quickly!”
Okay, that was a massive lie, but it was way less embarrassing than the truth.
“Whatever, humie.” Rocket made a show of looking through the food supply, then checked the entrances, and turned back to Peter. “This Zilnor, how bad?”
“What?”
“How bad does he need to be hurt?”
Peter remembered the previous conversation. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “He’s going to jail. It’s fine.”
“You sure? That don’t look like just a couple of needle sticks.”
“I’m fine. I just need to grow my blood back,” said Peter. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
Rocket gave Peter a searching look, then shrugged and turned away.
“Whatever. Let me know if you change your mind.”
“Rocket?” Peter said.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. For asking. I appreciate that.”
“D’ast soft humie,” muttered Rocket, as he walked off.
—
“Peter, may I come in?” Gamora called from outside the door of his room.
Peter sat up, quickly ran a finger through his hair, and pulled his shirt down where it had ridden up. “Sure, yeah, no problem.”
Gamora stepped inside and sat down on the bed. “I’ve been thinking, and we need to talk.”
That didn’t sound good. “Sure, no problem.”
“I do not have a lot of experience with emotions. Seeing you with Aooo...”
“She’s just a friend,” said Peter.
“She seemed more emotional. More sensitive. I thought she might suit you better, as you are also more sensitive and emotional.” Gamora turned her head.
This was getting worse by the second. “Like I said, she’s just a friend, she’s got her life and...”
Gamora put a hand on Peter’s. “Peter.”
He stopped talking.
“I thought she would suit you better, I thought of what Drax said about the tradition of your people and stronger women with weaker men, and how, by that custom, you and I would be unsuitable, I thought of your reputation with women, I thought of everything Thanos had taught me about attachment and weakness and danger, I thought of all of the reasons why it would be a bad idea.” She broke off again.
Peter swallowed hard. Had Drax blown it for him? Had she decided he wasn’t what she wanted? Had seeing him captured like that convinced her he was too weak to be good enough for her?
“But then I thought of you, being taken by Zilnor and how you could have died. I don’t want us to die without being together. Even if it’s a bad idea, what I want is to be with you.” She looked at him. “So, if you’re still interested...”
Peter leaned in and kissed her.
He pulled his head back, half-afraid of her reaction.
She hadn’t pulled a knife, so that was a good sign.
When he looked up at her face, she was smiling. “Yes, I think I want to do that again, many times.”
“Well, let’s get started.” He put an arm around her and they kissed again.