Experiment: The Ravager Code

Unexpected Change

A Few months ago

The job description was vague—suspiciously vague, in fact—but Yondu knew by now that some clients used limited information as a weapon.

And a damn good one too.

Unfortunately for them, he had been fooled enough already by not asking questions, and he wouldn't do it again.

He had lost far too much the last time. Pretty much everything...

"It'll be twenty-six thousand units in total for the job," the client explained, and even now, Yondu found himself thoroughly chewing through every word that came out of the man's mouth. "I'm willing to go half up-front. I'll give you the general coordinates after that."

The Captain leaned back in his chair, his eyes glowing in the dim lights of the bar (oddly quiet for this time of night, but he wasn't failing to notice the eyes that all around that discreetly watched him throughout it. So the client had undercover backup? Another thing he would take note of.) "If you could come across the location on your own then why not do it yourself?" he asked carefully, his eyes narrowing.

The man blinked, his eyes moving around the room. "Never hurts to hire a professional like yourself, does it?"

He didn't let himself fall for the flattery. Ego had given enough to make him turn a blind eye for years. But he had been so arrogant—more so than he was now—young and brash, thinking as a new Ravager he could fight the gods himself and come out alive.

Something was strange about this client though... something he couldn't place. He looked normal enough: dark eyes under a weathered-yet-pleasant face, matching dark hair and strange patterns over his brow and jaw. An average build, and as tall as Yondu, with the odd scar here and there. His accent though... that was what really bothered him, it wasn't like one he heard often. Too thick, too foriegn, sounding like it belonged in a different mouth. The small clicks in his speech between words or when he was thinking seeming like normal enough habits.

Maybe he was just suspicious of everyone and everything now.

At least that's what he may have thought... if only this man didn't have such a strange aura. As if his presence couldn't decide one way it was. His Centaurian roots struggled to place it, and his head hurt with trying, but tingled enough down his neck to know: something about this man was wrong.

"What'll we be walking into?"

"Should be a space-port converted into a lab, my sources say the staff will be clearer on the dates I'll supply—should you choose to use them. Heavily trained guards—rumors have it they're half machine, half organic. Then a few lesser-threats that shouldn't be a problem to you."

A pointed glance towards his arrow holster, and Yondu bristled. "And just what makes this so damn important?" He could barely keep the growl from his voice. "Tell me what, exactly, I'm goin' in there for."

The man leaned forward on his elbows that braced on the table, glancing to the side then back. "It's a highly-dangerous weapon, I don't know exactly what kind, but I want it. It's supposed to be moved soon—to who wanted it made."

"And who would that be?"

"Do you want the job or not, Udonta?"

"It's a weapon?" he enunciated the word, his jaw tense as red light flashed through his implant. "That's it? Just get that and deliver it to you?"

"I didn't lie."

He squinted. "I want the upfront payment, and every detail you can give me about the structure, the staff—about the damn star alignment around it, I don't give a shit. But I don't buy this is it, so you're gonna cooperate, 'cause I know you ain't gettin' better than Ravagers to do this job for you."