Forerunner meets the Guardians

Chapter 23

(Several Hours Later, Ceres Galliot, Interstellar Space)

Working along with the transmission, Tengfei and Cortana tirelessly kept sending an SOS message to the UNSC since they heard about their teammate becoming infected. Rocket Raccoon spent walking to and fro when he was very sleepless in the entire day. Mantis looked at him with a concern when she thought of comforting the furry being.

" Rocket? " she called his name. " You seemed bothered this time. Can you tell me what's wrong? "

" What's wrong?! " Rocket indignantly spoke and raised his voice. " I'll tell you what's wrong! Out of my desperation, I almost dragged everyone into that dangerous ring! I thought it could be bring us into another dimension! It ended up but another load of trouble to all of us! Then, Groot got sick, it's all because of my recklessness! "

" I'm sorry, this already happened, " she calmly spoke.

" Look, Mantis! Everyone could blame me for real! " the furry animal being angrily cried. " I dragged you into trouble for the second time! I should have gone there instead of Groot! "

" Rocket, don't you ever say that! "

" First of, you know Drax and I had a fight which I brought my frustration into this mission. Now, I made everything a mess! This is all my fault! "

Mantis instantly hugged her furry friend when she just listened. In the corner, R'tas Vadum remained silent and heard the Raccoon's rant. Then, he looked at Tengfei becoming more frustrated and tired of sending the SOS messages.

" Damn it! " the Kree Voidwalker loudly slammed the touchscreen table and heatedly yelled. " No one has dared to respond to our calls, not even a single damned message! How long are they gonna receive and show -up! "

" Relax, Kree. It will take time for them to reply, " Cortana calmly reasoned. " You have understood that they are still fighting against the Covenant at Reach. "

" It will take time?! Really! " Tengfei exasperatedly spoke and recalled. " Back in my other universe, when a Guardian gets injured, a ghost or someone else gets an immediate response for those who are in danger and need of help! This is getting more frustrating than ever! "

" Tengfei, I do understand what you're getting from. "

" Groot is damn infected! Then, what's next?! Tell me, Cortana! "

" I'm sorry, " she sadly sighed.

The former Sangheili commander bowed his head and felt sorry to his new friends who were losing hope in this mission. He looked around Quill, Drax, Gamora, and the other two Spartans who were in sullen faces. They all left the room where Groot was resting. The red-headed Terran leaned his back and crossed his arms. He couldn't think that this journey to the future have more worsened than their own journeys. 

" You know, I can't believe we're all stuck in this doomsday chaos, " Drax calmly answered. " We started just a gambling gig which Rocket and I had a feud. Then, we helped Teng's people until we ended up here in the future. This is the worst mission that we have done so far. Thanos has  his ways to get us into trouble. "

" I know, " Gamora sadly nodded. " I guess we're losing hope. "

" It's all just too much for us, "
Quill sadly spoke and looked at his teammates as they felt sorry to the leader. " Time Travel. The Kids in Corbulo. Me being kidnapped. The Composer got stolen. Planet Reach got doomed. Now, we got chased and Groot's infected. How are we gonna fix everything before we get back into our timeline? "

The Sangheili man heard the Terran man's vent and composed his thoughts. Then, he felt sorry for Chris-77 and the others. He looked at the ship's window, showing the vast darkness of space and the stars along with the fleets of the UNSC and the Sangheili.