Hooked On A Feeling

----- August 2nd, 2014 - Nova HQ, Xandar -----

Gamora was awake and stood in front of a monitor. 

The screen starts displaying information on her. An Officer called Corpsman Dey was reading of the information and what's known about her to another man standing behind him.

She cracks her neck as Dey speaks.

"Gamora. Surgically modified and trained as a living weapon. The adopted daughter of the Mad Titan, Thanos. Recently, Thanos lent her and her sister Nebula out to Ronan, which leads us to believe that Thanos and Ronan are working together."

They move Gamora off to the side and bring Rocket up front.

He crosses his arms and bares his teeth as everything on him pops up.

"Subject 89P13. Calls itself Rocket. The result of illegal genetic and cybernetic experiments on a lower life form."

They move Rocket back and bring Groot up.

Groot ducks a bit to look through the glass screen. His arms were already halfway regrown.

"What the hell?," The other man mutters.

"They call it Groot. A humanoid plant that's been traveling recently as 89P13's personal house plant slash muscle."

They pull Groot back and push Peter in front of the screen.

"Peter Jason Quill, from Terra. Raised from youth by a band of mercenaries called the Ravagers, led by Yondu Udonta."

Peter slowly winds up his middle finger like a fishing rod and flips the bird at them, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know how this machine worked."

Peter is dragged back from the monitor, allowing Y/N to walk up in front as the other four stood behind him. No one wanted to be the one to drag him up front.

Dey looks at the screen before saying, "..I'm sorry. One moment please, there seems to be a mistake here."

Dey frantically starts messing with the monitor, confused. The man behind also looks shocked.

Y/N smiles and just tells them, "No, there's no problem. I am actually fourteen."

"You're fourteen?!," Peter shouts before mumbling, ".. God dammit..."

He then starts puffing out his chest and attempts to make himself look taller.

"It's not that.. We have absolutely nothing on you," Corpsman Dey explains.

Y/N starts playing with his ring and smirks at that. He then backs up to the others.

"What a bunch of a-holes," The other man whispers to Dey, "Transport all five to the Kyln."

__________

----- August 2nd, 2014 - The Kyln -----

The four of them were being led down a hall, 3/4 of them wearing cuffs.

"I guess most of Nova Corps wanna uphold the laws, but these ones here, they're corrupt and cruel," Rocket lets out a laugh, "But, hey, that's not my problem. I ain't gonna be here long. I've escaped 22 prisons, this one's no different. You're lucky the broad showed up, because otherwise, me and Groot would be collecting that bounty right now, and you'd be getting drawn and quartered by Yondu and those Ravagers."

Gamora was up front, followed by Rocket, Peter, Y/N, then Groot. Y/N was looking around the place completely fascinated.

"I've had a lot of folks try to kill me over the years. I ain't about to be brought down by a tree and a talking raccoon," Peter says.

"What's a raccoon?," Rocket asks with a little anger in his voice.

"'What's a raccoon?' It's what you are, stupid," Peter tells him.

"Ain't no thing like me, 'cept me."

Peter decides to change topic, "So, this orb has a real shiny blue suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon sort of vibe. What is it?"

"I am Groot."

"So what? What's the Orb?," Peter asks.

Gamora says to him, "I have no words for an honorless thief."

"Pretty high and mighty coming from the lackey of a genocidal maniac," Gamora looks at Rocket, "Yeah, I know who you are. Anyone who's anyone knows who you are."

"Yeah, we know who you are," Peter lies.

 "Who is she?," Y/N asks. 

Groot tells him, "I am Groot." 

"Woah, watch the language. It was just a question," Y/N replies.

"I wasn't retrieving the orb for Ronan, I was betraying him. I had an agreement to sell it to a third party."

"I am Groot."

Frustrated, Peter says, "Well, that's just as fascinating as the first 89 times you told us that. What is wrong with Giving Tree, here?"

"Well, he don't know talking good like me and you. So his vocabulistics is limited to "I" and "am" and "Groot". Exclusively in that order," Rocket explains.

"I tell you what, that's gonna wear real thin, real fast," Peter mumbles.

Y/N adds in, "You guys don't understand him?"

Peter glances back at him, "Do you?"

"..I mean.. yeah," Y/N mutters.

They walk into the next room.

On the other side of an open gate, Peter sees a Prison Guard with his Walkman headphones. He puts them on as 'Hooked On A Feeling' starts playing.

"Hey! Put that away," Peter slides into the room towards the Guard as the gate closes, "Hey! Listen to me you big blue bastard, take those headphones off, that's mine. Those belong in impound, that tape and that player is mine!"

The guard stuns Peter with a stun baton, causing him to drop to his knees. 

"Hooked on a Feeling, Blue Swede, 1973, that song belongs to me!," Peter struggle to get out.

Gamora, Rocket, Y/N, and Groot watch from behind the closed gate.

The guard stuns him again, and puts the headphones back on. He then stuns Peter again, dropping him to his side.

"I'm hooked on a feeling
I'm high on believing
That you're in love with me"

 A few minutes after the shock show, each one of them was brought into a room and sprayed with an orange liquid. Y/N was lightly dancing as it happened as he could still hear the guard listening to the Walkman.

"Lips as sweet as candy
It's taste is on my mind
Girl, you got me thirsty
For another cup of wine"

Peter was putting on a shirt as Rocket and Y/N were tossed into the room with him. Well Rocket was tossed clothe-less, Y/N danced in, in his boxers. Peter looked at Y/N confused then to Rocket and the scars on his back.

"Got a bug from you girl
But I don't need no cure
I just stay a victim
If I can for sure"

A few minutes later, Gamora, Y/N, Peter, Rocket, and Groot were brought to the space cafeteria/common area. Y/N was looking around at the scale of the place.

"All the good love
When we're all alone
Keep it up, girl
Yeah, you turn me on

I'm hooked on a feeling"

Suddenly a fish was thrown a Peter's head. He looks up to see bunch of guys pointing down in his direction. But when he looks at where they're pointing, Gamora is walking calmly next to Y/N.

"You first! You first!"

"Murderer!"

"Coming for you first, Gamora!"

"You're dead!"

"You're scum! You're scum!"

One of the prisoners throws something at her, but Y/N catches it inches away from her head.

"It's like I said," Rocket says, "she's got a rep. A lot of prisoners here have lost their families to Ronan and his goons. She'll last a day, tops."

"The guards will protect her, right?"

Y/N lets out a sigh and adding, "If Space Prisons are anything like Earth Prisons.. Not even a little bit. They're here to stop us from getting out. They don't care what we do to each other inside."

"Whatever nightmares the future holds, are dreams compared to what's behind me," Gamora says.

Peter then bumps into a big grey-blue brute.

"Check out the new meat," he then runs a hand down Peter's face, "I'm gonna slather you up in Gunavian jelly, and go to tow-"

Groot interrupts him by shoving his newly grown root fingers into the brutes nose and lifting him in the air.

"Let's make something clear," Rocket yells out to everyone, "This one here is our booty! You wanna get to him, you go through us!"

Groot drops the brute to the ground and instead of giving in and listening, he attempts to attack Groot. Even with all the blood pouring from his nose.

But Y/N appears in front of him, lifting him by the throat with one hand. The brute tries to hit him in the face in order to loosen his grip. Unfortunately, all he accomplishes is fracturing his hand.

Rocket grins then nods at Y/N before continuing, "Or, more accurately, we go through you."

Y/N then tosses the big guy across the room. Then He, Rocket, Groot, and Gamora continue through a doorway.

Peter just looks around the room and awkwardly says, "..I'm with them."

He then steps over the blood pool on the floor and follows the others.

__________

The guys were in a room in a pile.

Well, Groot was in the corner by himself as Peter and Rocket were in the pile with a bunch of other guys. Y/N decided to lie down on the ceiling.

Peter was staring up at him then whispers, "..How are you doing that?"

"I can fly," Y/N tells him as he looks down at him.

"Like.. actual flight.. Or.. Or implants? Cuz if so, I need to get me those."

"Nope, just natural flight, dude," Y/N says.

Not even a few seconds later, they hear the screams of Gamora as she's dragged pass the door by a bunch of inmates. The two of them glance at each other.

Y/N floats down to the ground as he and Peter make their way out the room. Still in the room, Rocket sits up sleepily with his fur matted.

"..Guys, where you going?," He asks.

"Guys?," Rocket then shoots up and runs to the gate, "Guys!"

Meanwhile, with Gamora, she was shoved up against a wall and had a blade held to her neck.

"Gamora, consider this a death sentence," One of them snarls out, "for your crimes against the galaxy."

"You dare?!," They hear a man bellow from behind them.

They all face the doorway to see a buff grey man with red symbols all along his body.

"You know who I am, yes?," the man asks.

"...You're Drax.. The Destroyer..," the inmate with the knife says as he back away from Gamora.

Off to the side at another doorway, Peter and Y/N are peaking into the room. Rocket runs up next to them.

"Guys!," Rocket says.

In the room, Drax continues, "And you know why they call me this?"

"..You slayed dozens of Ronan's minions.."

"Ronan murdered my wife, Ovette, and my daughter, Camaria. He slaughtered them where they stood. And he laughed!," Drax yells that last part into the inmates face.

"Guys?," Rocket continues outside.

Drax calms down, "Her life is not yours to take. He killed my family. I shall kill one of his in return."

"Of course, Drax. You're right," the inmate hands the knife to Drax.

But Gamora knocks down the other two inmates beside her and grab their knives, before holding them against Drax's and the other inmates necks, "I'm no family to Ronan or Thanos.. I'm your only hope at stopping him." 

Gamora then calmly drops the knives to the ground. Quickly after Drax lets out a war cry and slams Gamora into the wall by the throat.

"Woman, your words mean nothing to me!"

Peter steps in from the doorway shouting, "Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Hey! You know, if killing Ronan is truly your sole purpose, I don't think this is the best way to go about it."

Rocket watches from the side as Y/N stands next to Peter. 

"..Are you not the man this wench attempted to kill?," Drax asks.

"Well, I mean, she's hardly the first woman to try and do that to me," he lifts up his shirt to show a tiny scar, "Look, this is from a smoking-hot Rajak girl. Stabbed me with a fork. Didn't like me skipping out on her at sunrise," then he shows his collarbone, "I got, right here, a Kree girl tried to rip out my thorax. She caught me with this skinny little A'askavariian who worked in Nova Records. I was trying to get information. You ever see an A'askavariian? They have tentacles, and needles for teeth. If you think I'm seriously interested in that, then-"

"Quill, he doesn't care," Y/N then says to Drax, "She betrayed Ronan. He's coming back for her."

Peter continues, "And when he does, that's when you..," he then symbolizes slicing his throat.

Drax looks at them confused before asking quietly, "..Why would I put my finger on his throat?"

"...What?..," Peter asks.

Y/N tries to hold in a laugh.

Peter looks at Y/N then back to Drax, "No, it's a symbol. This is a symbol for," he repeats the motion, "you slicing his throat."

"..I would not slice his throat.. I would cut his head clean off."

"It's a general expression for you killing somebody," Peter turns to the inmate and repeats the motion again, "You've heard of this. You've seen this, right? You know what that is."

The inmate nods, "Yeah. Yeah."

"Everyone knows," Peter says looking back at Drax.

Drax looks at the inmate, who switches what he's saying, "No, no."

"What he's saying is, you want to keep her alive. Don't do his work for him," Y/N explains in between fits of laughter.

Drax looks at Peter, noticing he looks a bit frightened and had his hands up. He then turns to Y/N who looked as calm as ever and was just playing with the ring on his finger.

Drax respected his courage to face him.

He then turns to Gamora and drops her to the ground. Gamora lands on her knees in a coughing fit.

Drax looks down at the knife in his hand and mumbles, "I like your knife. I'm keeping it."

He then walks away as the inmate looks at him sadly, "...That was my favorite knife."

A few minutes later, Gamora, Peter, Y/N and Rocket are walking back to their cells.

"Listen!," Peter says to Gamora, "I could care less whether you live or whether you die."

Gamora spins around to face the other three, "Then why stop the big guy?"

"Simple. You know where to sell my Orb," Peter says with a grin.

"How are we gonna sell it when we and it are still here?," Gamora asks.

Peter looks over to Rocket who was standing there with his arms crossed, "My friend Rocket, here, has escaped 22 prisons."

"We're getting out," Rocket states but then adds, "And then we're headed straight to Yondu to retrieve your bounty."

"How much was your buyer willing to pay you for the Orb?," Y/N asks Gamora.

Gamora looks at Y/N strangely before saying, "Four billion units."

"What?!," Rocket shouts.

"Holy shit," Peter exclaims.

"Is that a lot?," Y/N asks.

"Of course it is," Gamora answers before saying, "That Orb is my opportunity to get away from Thanos and Ronan.. If you free us, I'll lead you to the buyer directly and I'll split the profit between the four of us."

"I am Groot."

They turn to see Groot standing behind a gate to the man pile room. 

Rocket rolls his eyes, "Five of us. Asleep for the danger, awake for the money, as per frickin' usual."

__________

----- August 3rd, 2014 - The Dark Aster -----

"You have been betrayed, Ronan."

Ronan The Accuser steps foward toward the holographic face of a man known as The Other. Nebula stands off to the side listening to the conversation.

"We know only that she has been captured. Gamora may yet recover the Orb," Ronan says.

"No! Our sources within the Kyln say Gamora has her own plans for the Orb. Your partnership with Thanos is at risk. Thanos requires your presence. NOW!"

The Other ends the call as Ronan scowls and looks away.

__________

----- August 3rd, 2014 - Sanctuary -----

At the Sanctuary Asteroid Field, Nebula, Ronan, and The Other have all gathered around the warlord's throne. Nebula was tinkering with her robotic arm as Ronan paced in place.

The man named Thanos sits in his throne facing away from them.

"With all due respect, Thanos, your daughter made this mess, and yet you summon me," Ronan berates.

"I would lower my voice, Accuser," The Other tells him.

"First, she lost a battle with some primitive," Ronan lists first.

The Other flips it, "Thanos put Gamora under your charge."

"Then she was apprehended by the Nova Corps," Ronan lists second.

"You are the one here with nothing to show for it."

Ronan ignores him and continues, "Your sources say that she meant to betray us the whole time!"

"LOWER YOUR TONE! I MAY BE YOUR-"

Ronan interrupts The Other with a Concussive Blast that snaps his neck. This gets Nebula's attention, albeit she shows no signs of surprise at the murder. She glances up at her father.

Ronan turns to Thanos.

"I only ask that you take this matter seriously," Ronan finally tells him.

The warlord turns his throne around to face the Kree as he speaks. He was a giant purple man wearing gold plated armor.

"The only matter I did not take seriously, BOY.. is you," Ronan looks at Thanos as he speaks, seemingly surprised, "Your politics BORE me! Your demeanor is that of a pouty child. And, apparently... you alienated my favorite daughter, Gamora."

"Gamora is no longer the real concern. But one of the people she chooses to ally herself with," Ronan tells him.

"Explain," Thanos demands.

"He doesn't even exist according to the Nova Corp. Appeared from nowhere.. but he wore a symbol that might be identifiable," Ronan projects a holographic image into the air.

Thanos stares at the image, his eyes widening slightly. But he manages to remain seemingly calm on the outside. Nebula looks up at the image then over to Thanos. She recognizes it as well, mainly from things told to her by her Father and some other people across the galaxy.

Thanos mumbles to himself, "He's here.. The others won't be happy.."

Ronan, who didn't hear him, asks him, "Do you have any idea who he is?"

"..No, But it is of no consequence. I shall honor our agreement, Kree. If you bring me the Orb," Thanos leans forward attempting to retain composure with his threat, "But return to me again empty-handed and I will BATHE the starways in your blood."

Ronan seems intimidated by his threat as he gets rid of the holographic image. 

Nebula, on the other hand, has fixed her arm, "Thanks, dad...sounds fair," She walks past Ronan saying, "This is one fight you won't win. Let's head to the Kyln."

Ronan looks at her as she walks than back to Thanos before turning and walking after her.

Thanos watches on as they leave, with a satisfied grin.

Well.. 

....As satisfied as he can be considering...

..He recognized the Symbol...

____________________

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