𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 , guardians of the galaxy

𝟎𝟎𝟓.

cassandra didn't think her day was going to become any crazier; breaking into a building and performing a heist with gamora back that almost ended in total disaster– and probably did, in the long run, seemed like the craziest her day was going to get. most interesting? no. gamora was here. peter was here. they were in the same room. tension was practically bubbling over like a boiling pot of water– cassandra was sure her day could get more interesting, but crazy? rocket was wired and hooked up with each limb strapped down, with his lungs being worked manually and his chest moving in a pattern that made cassandra nauseous to look at, almost like what cassandra imagines in those very few times that peter will tell her anything about the woman that inspired her middle name. the picture projecting from the file made cassandra nauseous– car-sick nauseous. the type where you feel like you're on a boat, sailing across a really rocky, rough sea. cassandra doesn't know what that type of nausea feels like, but she assumes that's what this is. she wants to puke, but something keeps her stuck looking at it.

"start the incision here." with that, rocket– an innocent baby here, let out sharp and pained cries as an incision is performed upon him. cassandra doesn't want to watch this happen– especially to her friend, someone she considers family– especially to a baby.

"keep calm." the woman ordered, and rocket started wriggling, trying to escape. "hold it still."

"i can't!" the man shouts. "it won't stop moving!" cassandra can hear mantis crying, she can see her dad trying his hardest to be turned away from it, but beyond that, she can see rocket. all she can see is rocket. that poor, once-innocent baby, and that older version of him, distrusting, kind of an asshole, a persistent wall protecting him at all times. wires are sprouting out of him and the way his chest moves with his breathing looks fake, too fake, while the way his chest writhes with the incision in the projection is real, too real.

cassandra finally breathed again– a sob. a sob that rocks her chest as she let it out, throwing the back of her hand over her mouth as she sobbed. again and again. she couldn't stop. she couldn't pull away. she couldn't cry, only sob. dry sobs. they were dry, and blotchy, and tears weren't falling, but sobs were still being pulled from her with a strength that rocked her entire body and heaved her chest.

"why did he never tell us about any of this?" mantis's voice trembled.

".. this is worse than what thanos did to me."

that made cassandra gag. she swallowed the gag down quickly as peter began talking.

".. but what about the passkey? is it there?"

nebula started going through the file, going over different passages at a quick, calculated speed. "no. but a file was removed today. downloaded and deleted, a million characters in length. the biometrics say it was this man," a picture of a man was projected. looking at him made cassandra's skin crawl– because something about him felt familiar. she had seen him before. she was sure of it. "recorder B2H6."