Chapter 2
“Peter,” Gamora watched his stray blonde hair on the top of his head as he bent over his Zoon. “Peter,” she waited, taping her foot. The muffled music sounded nice enough but there were larger things at hand. His head bobbed, eyes closed as he swung his head from side to side, that goofy smile she secretly loved plastered on his face. She enjoyed it for a few moments before her practical mind overbid her desires. With a single swipe she yanked the head phones off his head.
“Hey! C’mon!”
“Have you made contact with that Opid lord yet?” Peter round the cord around his headphones and secured both them and the Zoon to his belt before answering, turning in his pilot’s chair to the console,
“Yes, she’s very pleased. 500 tons of top grade waret and 60,000,00 units for the trouble. We’ll meet her at her flagship mine on Contraxia in two days.”
“What was she like?” Gamora took a seat in the co-pilot seat across from him.
“She seemed…fine,” Peter shrugged. The assassin shook her head. How was it that he retained such naivety? Such childishness? Gamora longed for it herself, though she hardly knew it.
“Did she seem suspicious?”
“Not at all, it’s gonna be fine. Simple job, point A to point B. What could…” a single green finger silenced him.
“Don’t even say it aloud.” He smiled, eventually forcing her to grin as well. “So two days?”
“Two days, and then about a week and a half to Gravior according to Kraglin. And I gotta ask Rocket about upgrading our storage units, don’t this waret to be seen by any fancy tech” Gamora watched the gears turning in his mind as he prepared for the job. At least he was trying to be a responsible captain.
“What were you listening to?” She asked, standing once more and kneeling down to pluck the Zoone from his belt.
“Just some old music that was on here, Yondu has surprisingly good taste.” She watched him blink and bow his head.
“Hey,” she murmured, resting a hand on his knee. He looked at her, expectant.
“I am Groot,” Gamora jumped up, facing the new comer and retracted he sword from her belt with a guilty hand. What did she still leap to attack anything and everything that surprised her? Why couldn’t she just let her guard down for once?
“Hey’a Groot,” Peter waved, standing and giving her an apologetic side glance. “What’s up buddy?”
“I am Groot?” Gamora listened as he repeated himself. Slowly they’d been getting better at this. Shortly after Groot said his first words since growing back Rocket had begun to teach them well, he’d attempted to teach them how to understand the Flora colossus. After all this time it was still a work in progress. Instead of answering, Groot merely pointed at his upper arm.
“What the hell?” Peter rushed past her to inspect Yondu’s Yakka arrow purtruding out of Groot’s arm.
“I am Groot!” Groot rushed to explain as Peter began the frequently recited “this is why we can’t have nice things” lecture.
“You and Kraglin were practicing?” Gamora discerned, wincing as Peter gripped the arrow with his fist and gave it a tug. Groot jolted, grimacing but continued.
“I am Groot!”
“He would whistle and you’d try to….smack it out of the air with your vines?” The adolescent nodded. Gamora rolled her eyes,
“Groot you can’t do that! That arrow is precious, what if it broke? What if it got your eye or something?”
“I am Groot!” He whined.
“Oh I WILL tell you what to do.” Gamora shot back. Peter braced himself against Groot and gave the arrow a final yank. It came out with splinters that healed before Gamora’s eyes.
“Groot, man you can’t just play with this!”
“I am Groot!”
“I don’t care who’s idea it was! I don’t want that arrow to get broken!” Groot spread his arms wide in a gesture that needed no translation.
“Or you,” Gamora looked between them. “Why don’t you go help Rocket with something?”
“I am Groot,” he folded his arms. Peter paused, trying to piece out what he had said but Gamora didn’t have to.
“Why don’t you want to?”
“I am Groot.” Groot turned to leave. Peter looked at her, shrugging in confusion.
“He says Rocket just yells at him and doesn’t understand.”
“Doesn’t understand what?” Peter asked, walking back to her.
“Who knows?” She pondered. Peter frowned, no doubt trying to think but shook his head after a moment.
“I’m gonna have a word with Kraglin about the arrow, I know he doesn’t mean anything buy it but…I entrusted it to him and Yondu wouldn’t have wanted….” Here he faltered and Gamora watched his face sink. She touched his arm gently, it was the most she could bring herself to do. Don’t do it. Don’t get too close. She could hear her demons whisper. The basic rules that had kept her alive through Thano’s torture still screamed in her mind no matter how hard she tried to tell herself she didn’t need those defenses anymore. Peter smiled sadly at her and she forced herself to walk away before he could respond.
“Rocket,” Gamora crouched to his level, knocking on the top of his protective metal mask as he held a blow torch to a small panel in the Milano’s main corridor. The raccoonoid flicked up his mask, eyes alarmed for a second before recognizing her.
“What’s up Gams?”
“Peter’s gonna ask you to reinforce our security systems in the hold, they need to be invisible from any pugs or cams on outside ships,” he huffed, tail flicking. She looked at the dark…well darker, bags under his eyes. His slightly slouched posture, she knew that look. That was sleep deprivation due to insomnia.
“They already are,” he complained.
“I know. But he wants us to be sure,” she tried, standing up. Rocket nodded,
“Sure yeah whatever Star-mun…Star-lord wants.” Gamora nodded, the correction not going unnoticed. The rest of the day she watched Rocket navigate the ship in his usual brooding manner, only this time he seemed to yawn every now and then, his feet dragging just a little. At dinner Groot didn’t play any of his games, but he didn’t speak either.
“Groot,” Gamora placed her own dish in the small sink and took Groot’s as the rest of them filed out of the shared kitchen. “Is Rocket alright? He doesn’t seem like he’s sleeping well.” Groot looked at her,
“I am Groot?”
“Well, you share a room. I thought you’d notice.” Considering how frantically he had woken her when he was little and Rocket had nightmares. She remembered him summoning her and how awkward she felt trying to comfort the raccoonoid. But Groot had desperately wanted her to help his friend. That urgency, that love. Gamora remembered that most clearly of all. Groot gave her a blank stare and shrugged, taking his dish from the sink and washing it himself.