Experiment: The Ravager Code

Purpose and Promise

From that moment upon finding Tess amongst the ruins of her own making and no real idea about how it had even happened, Yondu had decided it was best not to leave her alone much if possible.

Kid was scared senseless after it, anyways, hesitant to let anyone touch her, but she was starting to warm up a little.

She hadn't wanted to leave the little corner of the infirmary she had been staying in at all, unable to eat anything solid for another week or so before she could finally stomach a few things.

"Are... are you sure?" Tess asked quietly as Yondu escorted her down towards her new quarters.

"You'll be fine, girl. Mine are right down the hall. Relax."

She was fidgeting, picking at her fingers and her shirt, nervous, he realized. But there was really nothing left to be done about it, he had tried to get her to understand she was safe, and that she was going to be okay—no more outbursts will happen, he had told her despite having no control of it—he just needed her to be comfortable.

"Which one..?" she asked, looking down the hall as he approached one of the doors.

"Just at the end of the hall, this one's mostly empty."

She swallowed and waited while he tried to activate the mechanism on the door, its lock hissing and clicking but not opening.

Tess watched and glanced up to him, then back to the static-screen above the lock that was still making idle clicks.

"Is it broken?" she asked, keeping her eyes on it, running through the issues in her mind whether she wanted to or not.

"Damn thing's sticking," he answered, clearly annoyed.

"Does that happen a lot?"

"Ship ain't exactly in its prime..."

She took a step forward, glancing between him and the door. "Could I try?"

He raised his brow at her, obviously confused, but nodded anyways, stepping back and gesturing forward.

Tess bent down a little and flicked her eyes around the lock and little screen, then cocked her head and tapped it, turning to look up at him. "Uh... do you have one of those tools?"

He pulled the multi-tool off the cuff of his sleeve, passing it to her.

Tess took it and started to undo the screws connecting the device part to the wall next to the door, pulling it off and exposing the wires. She scanned over it all, then took the tool back into her fingers, adjusting a few things in the wiring and mechanisms.

She checked it all over again and reattached it onto the wall, then went to work on the screen when it flicked back to life, bringing up a few different screens and managing through each of them before hitting the button on the bottom, and the door slid open without an issue.

She looked up at Yondu and simply passed the tool back, her face blank.

He looked between her and the open door, returning his tool to its place and smiling slowly. "Think we just figured out what you can do around here, kid." he told her, ruffling her hair.

She was confused, but stuck on the fact that he had smiled at her, looking genuinely pleased. "It was just the central power, it was only half connected so it made it stick."

He scoffed a laugh, shaking his head. "You're full of surprises."

"Is that a good thing..?"

"So far." He coaxed her along slowly, entering the room and letting her look around. "Had some sheets put on the bed yesterday, there's some clothes in the drawer, but we can get you fitted with some new stuff soon."