STARGIRL

eight.

"Quill? What are you doing?" Rocket asked.

"Just outside Knowhere," continued Peter, "If you're there, come get me. I'm all yours."

He put on his helmet and dived out of the pod towards Gamora and Eleanor. "Quill, don't be ridiculous." Rocket said, but Peter ignored him as he scooped the two up.

"You can't fit three people in there. You're gonna die." Rocket was shouting, but he got cut off as Peter took off his mask, giving it to Gamora. Rocket was probably right, Eleanor was most likely already dead so the best person to give the mask to was Gamora.

Gamora gasped, and Peter heard her breathing. His skin was turning frosty as he held both his daughter and Gamora. He looked up at the many ships around him, watching as a bright light sucked him and the other two towards the ship. He fell onto the floor, breathing heavily and to his surprise, he heard Eleanor start to cough beside him.

"Els?" he said, bringing her into a hug as she tried to breathe deeply, "I thought you were dead. My girl."

He watched as she sat up and leaned against the wall. Her cough was chesty, making her breathing sound wheezy. But she was breathing. She was alive.

"Quill?" Gamora whispered, causing Peter to look down at her, "What happened?"

"I saw you out there," he replied, "I don't know what came over me. But I couldn't let you die. I found something inside of myself. Something... incredibly heroic. I mean, not to brag, but, objectively..." Gamora sighed, cutting him off, "Where's the Orb?"

Peter pulled a face of panic, "It's... Well, they got the Orb."

"What?!"

A door opened, and Eleanor looked over to see the Ravagers standing there, all with guns pointing towards her dad. "Welcome home, Peter," Kraglin said, tilting his head slightly at the man, before turning to look at the girl who was still gasping for air, "and you as well, Eleanor."

The Ravagers quickly entered the room, grabbing the three by their wrists and their shoulders. They pushed them along the corridors until they got to Yondu. Two Ravagers pinned him up against the wall, letting Yondu punch him. Eleanor stayed quiet, chewing her sleeve as she knew already that for her, saying something wouldn't help him, it would only make the situation worse.

"You betray me!" he shouted, punching him in the stomach, and the Ravagers around him laughed, "Steal my money?"

"Stop it!" Gamora yelled, even though she was held by two Ravagers herself, "Leave him alone!"

"When I picked you up as a kid, these boys wanted to eat you," Yondu said for what felt like the hundredth time, "They ain't never tasted Terran before. I saved your life!"

"Oh, will you shut up about that? God!" Peter yelled back, "Twenty years, you been throwing that in my face, like it's some great thing, not eating me. Normal people don't even think about eating someone else! I didn't want to eat Els! And much less that person having to be grateful for it! You abducted me, man. You stole me from my home and from my family."

"You don't give a damn about your Terra! You're scared because you're soft in here," Yondu kept smacking his chest, "Here, right here! And I bet it's because of her!" he turned and pointed to Eleanor. She looked at him with absolute terror in her eyes.

"Yondu!" Gamora yelled, "Listen to me. Ronan has something called an Infinity Stone."

"I know what he's got, girl."

"Then you know we must get it back! He's gonna use it to wipe out Xandar," continued Gamora, "We have to warn them. Billions of people will perish."

"Is that what she's been filling your head with, boy?" Yondu asked Peter, smiling, "Sentiment?"

The Ravagers laughed.

"Eating away your brain like maggots!" he shook his head, "That's it." he whispered, and he whistled, bringing up his arrow to Peter's neck. Eleanor gasped as Gamora yelled, "No!"

"Sorry, boy," Yondu said, "But a captain's gotta teach his men what happens to those what cross him."

"If you kill me now," started Peter, "you are saying goodbye to the biggest score you have ever seen."

"The Stone? I hope you got something better than that. Because ain't nobody stealing from Ronan."

"We got a ringer. She knows everything there is to know about Ronan. His ships, his army."

"He's vulnerable."

"Hey, what do you say, Yondu, huh? Me and you, taking down a mark side-by-side, like the old days."

There weren't many old days before Eleanor came along.

Yondu whistled the arrow back to his pocket and started to laugh.