LODESTAR ❥ PETER QUILL

Chapter 4

Heather stares down at the orange-grey slop which is supposed to pass as 'food' in her tray-thing of cups. After the whole fiasco the previous night in the showers Heather managed to find a wall to press up against which gave her view of the slightly brighter corridor. She finally got to sleep at last and slept deeply until she was kicked awake by a fellow inmate.

Rocket begins rattling off a plan of action as the group (consisting of himself, Heather, Kleintje, Groot, Star-Lord and Gamora) start walking to a dining table.

"If we're gonna get out of here, we're gonna need to get into that watchtower; and to do that, I'm gonna need a few things. The guards wear security bands to control their ins and outs. I need one."

"Leave it to me," Gamora says without hesitation.

A man with a prosthetic leg walks past the assorted bunch.

"That dude, there, I need his prosthetic leg."

Heather notices the way Rocket's voice shakes as he says it and Heather looks up over Groot's head to raise her eyebrows at Kleintje.

There's no way that could help us get out of here, right?

The small floral colossus nods, confirming her suspicions.

"His leg?" Quill asks.

"Yeah. God knows I don't need the rest of him. Look at him, he's useless."

"All right."

"And finally, on the wall back there is a black panel. Blinky yellow light. Do you see it?"

The group have made it to their table and Heather takes a seat next to Quill. Kleintje hops off of Groot and crouches near Heather's hand.

"Yeah."

"There's a quarnyx battery behind it. Purplish box, green wires. To get into that watchtower, I definitely need it."

"Groot could probably get it from here, and I could cause a diversion," Heather suggests.

Rocket scans Heather for a second, clearly sizing her up.

"Okay, but we need a plan b: Gamora."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, supposably, these bald-bodies find you attractive. So, maybe you can work out some sort of trade."

"You must be joking," Gamora deadpans.

"No, I really heard they find you attractive."

"It's 20 feet up in the air —"

"I got one plan, and that plan requires a frickin' quarnyx battery, so figure it out!
Can I get back to it? Thanks. Now, this is important. Once the battery is removed,
everything is gonna slam into emergency mode. Once we have it, we gotta move quickly, so you definitely need to get that last."

Suddenly all the lights go out and an alarm goes off and the group look at each other until Rocket cringes and turns around to see Groot offering him the quarnyx bettery.

"Or we could just get it first and improvise!" he shouts in frustration.

"I'll get the armband." (Gamora)

"Leg." (Quill)

Star-Lord and Gamora push off from the table and immediately rush off to their respective tasks. Rocket rubs his face in frustration.

"We've got this, anything you need me to do, tell me and I'll do it," Heather says in a shoddy attempt to reassure the angered raccoon.

Small flying drones with guns attached swarm out from a circular hole in one of the prison's walls and surround Groot.